Imitation and Modeling

Introduction 2 Humans as the Imitative Animal 2 Conceptual Distinctions: Distinguishing Imitation From Other Forms of Social Learning 2 Explaining Human Imitation 3 The Binding Problem 3 Learning to Imitate by Operant Conditioning 3 Learning to Imitate by Associative Learning 3 Piaget’s Theory of Imitative Development 4 Imitation of Facial Acts 4 Active Intermodal Mapping Theory 5 Neural Mirroring Systems and Imitation 5 Using Imitation to Learn About Objects 6 Imitation of Novel Acts From Memory 6 Imitation of Peers Outside the Dyad 7 Using Imitation to Learn About People 7 Imitation and Social Communication 7 Roots of Social Cognition: Others “Like-Me” 7 The Regulation of Imitation: Who, What, and When to Imitate 8 Regulation of Imitation by Goals and Intentions 8 Regulation of Imitation by Emotions: Emotional Eavesdropping 8 Regulation of Imitation by Prior Experience and Success of the Model 9 Infant Imitation as an Interdisciplinary Field 9 Autism 9 Social Robotics 9 Summary and Future Directions 10 Acknowledgments 10 Further Reading 10