Work

Visual attention during neonatal imitation in newborn macaque monkeys

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: Previous studies suggest that about 50% of rhesus macaque infants engage in neonatal imitation of facial gestures. Here we measured whether individual differences in newborn macaques' (n = 49) visual attention may explain why some infants imitate lipsmacking (LPS) and tongue protrusion (TP) gestures. LPS imitators, but not TP imitators, looked more to a human experimenter's face and to a control stimulus compared to nonimitators (p = .017). LPS imitation was equally accurate when infants were looking at faces and when they were looking away (p = .221); TP imitation was more accurate when infants were looking at faces (p = .001). Potentially, less attention is necessary for LPS imitation compared to TP imitation, as LPS is part of macaques' natural communicative repertoire. These findings suggest that facial gestures may differentially engage imitators and nonimitators, and infants' visual attention during neonatal assessments may uncover the conditions that support this skill.

Source: Developmental Psychobiology

DOI: 10.1002/dev.21146

Authors: Elizabeth A. Simpson, Annika Paukner, Stephen J. Suomi, Pier F. Ferrari

Institutions: University of Parma, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: Functions and Development of the Mirror Neuron System, G1667031398