Imitation Strategy Running head: 18-MONTH-OLDS’ IMITATION OF A SORTING STRATEGY Watch and learn: 18-month-olds imitate a model’s sorting strategy

Eighteen-month-olds successfully imitate actions, but little research has investigated their ability to imitate and generalize strategies. We explored young children’s ability to learn a sorting strategy from a model’s demonstration. In a Modeling condition (N = 24) children witnessed a model sort objects by kind. They were then given a chance to interact with the same objects, followed by new sets of objects that varied by color. Children imitated the model’s sorting strategy more often when using the modeled objects than when using a new set of objects, suggesting that children can learn a strategy through observation but that the learning is tenuous. Children in the Modeling condition sorted by kind more often than in a control condition (N = 12); however, the conditions did not differ overall. 2