Introduction

Humans are often characterized as the most behaviourally flexible of all animals. Evolution has stumbled upon an unlikely but very effective trick for achieving this state. Relative to most other animals, we are born ‘immature’ and helpless. Our extended period of infantile immaturity, however, confers us with benefits. It allows us to learn and adapt to the specific physical and cultural environment into which we are born. Instead of relying on fixed reflexes adapted for specific environments, our learning capacities allow us to adapt to a wide range of ecological niches, from Alaska to Africa, modifying our shelter, skills, dress and customs accordingly. A crucial component of evolution's design for human beings is imitative learning, the ability to learn behaviours by observing the actions of others.

Human adults effortlessly learn new behaviours from watching others. Parents provide their young with an apprenticeship in how to behave as a member of the culture long before verbal instruction is possible. In Western culture, toddlers hold telephones to their ears and babble into thin air. There is no innate proclivity to treat hunks of plastic in this manner, nor is it due to trial-and-error learning. Imitation is chiefly responsible.

Over the past decade, imitative learning has received considerable attention from cognitive scientists, evolutionary biologists, neuroscientists and robotics researchers. Discoveries in developmental psychology have altered theories about the origins of imitation and its place in human nature.