Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T21:46:42.764Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An unsettled debate: Key empirical and theoretical questions are still open

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2017

Stefano Vincini
Affiliation:
UNAM Postdoctoral Fellowships Program, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico. stefano.vincini@gmail.comhttp://www.filosoficas.unam.mx/sitio/stefano-vincini
Yuna Jhang
Affiliation:
Department of Speech Language and Audiology, Chung Shan University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan. yjhang@csmu.edu.twhttps://sites.google.com/site/yjhang13/
Eugene H. Buder
Affiliation:
School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152. ehbuder@memphis.eduhttps://umwa.memphis.edu/fcv/viewprofile.php?uuid=ehbuder The Institute for Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152
Shaun Gallagher
Affiliation:
The Institute for Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152 Department of Philosophy, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152. s.gallagher@memphis.edùhttp://www.ummoss.org Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Art, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

Abstract

Debates about neonatal imitation remain more open than Keven & Akins (K&A) imply. K&A do not recognize the primacy of the question concerning differential imitation and the links between experimental designs and more or less plausible theoretical assumptions. Moreover, they do not acknowledge previous theorizing on spontaneous behavior, the explanatory power of entrainment, and subtle connections with social cognition.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M. (2016) Neural reuse in the organization and development of the brain. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology Review 58(S4):36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anisfeld, M. (2005) No compelling evidence to dispute Piaget's timetable of the development of representational imitation in infancy. In: Perspectives on imitation: From cognitive neuroscience to social science, vol. 2: Imitation, human development, and culture, ed. Hurley, S. & Chater, N., pp. 107–32. MIT.Google Scholar
Coulon, M., Hemimou, C. & Streri, A. (2013) Effects of seeing and hearing vowels on neonatal facial imitation. Infancy 18(5):782–96.Google Scholar
Dehaene, S. (2009) Reading in the brain: The new science of how we read. Penguin.Google Scholar
Gallagher, S. (2008) Inference or interaction: Social cognition without precursors. Philosophical Explorations 11(3):163–74.Google Scholar
Gallagher, S., Butterworth, G. E., Lew, A. & Cole, J. (1998) Hand–mouth coordination, congenital absence of limb, and evidence for innate body schemas. Brain and Cognition 38(1):5365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallagher, S. & Meltzoff, A. (1996) The earliest sense of self and other: Merleau-Ponty and recent developmental studies. Philosophical Psychology 9(2):211–33.Google Scholar
Jones, S. S. (2009) The development of imitation in infancy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364(1528):2325–35.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. (2002) Imitation as a mechanism of social cognition: Origins of empathy, theory of mind, and the representation of action. In: Handbook of childhood cognitive development, ed. Goswami, U., pp. 625. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. (2009) Roots of social cognition: The like-me framework. In: Minnesota symposia on child psychology: Meeting the challenge of translational research in child psychology, vol. 35, ed. Cicchetti, D. & Gunnar, M. R., pp. 2958. Wiley.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. & Moore, M. K. (1977) Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science 198(4312):7578. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/198/4312/75.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. & Moore, M. K. (1992) Early imitation within a functional framework: The importance of person identity, movement, and development. Infant Behavior and Development 15(4):479505.Google Scholar
Meltzoff, A. N. & Moore, M. K. (1997) Explaining facial imitation: A theoretical model. Early Development and Parenting 6(3–4):179–92.Google Scholar
Oostenbroek, J., Suddendorf, T., Nielsen, M., Redshaw, J., Kennedy-Costantini, S., Davis, J., Clark, S. & Slaughter, V. (2016) Comprehensive longitudinal study challenges the existence of neonatal imitation in humans. Current Biology 26(10):1334–38. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.047.Google Scholar
Pikovsky, A., Rosenblum, M. & Kurths, J. (2001) Synchronization: A universal concept in nonlinear sciences. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ray, E. & Heyes, C. (2011) Imitation in infancy: The wealth of the stimulus. Developmental Science 14(1):92105. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00961.x.Google Scholar
Thelen, E. (1979) Rhythmical stereotypies in normal human infants. Animal Behaviour 27(Pt. 3):699715.Google Scholar
Thelen, E. (1981b) Rhythmical behavior in infancy: An ethological perspective. Developmental Psychology 17(3):237–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.17.3.237.Google Scholar
Vincini, S. & Jhang, Y. (revised and resubmitted). Association but not recognition: An alternative model for early imitation from 0 to 2 months.Google Scholar
Vincini, S., Jhang, Y., Buder, E. H. & Gallagher, S. (2017) Neonatal imitation: Theory, experimental design, and significance for the field of social cognition. Frontiers in Psychology 8:1323. Available at: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed