Immediate and Deferred Imitation in Fourteen-and Twenty-Four-Month-Old Infants

Abstract

MELTZOFF, ANDREW N. Immediate and Deferred Imitation in Fourteenand Twenty-Four-MonthOld Infants. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 62-72. A laboratory procedure is developed that can be used to assess imitation in the second year of life. The procedure uses a blind scoring technique and incorporates control conditions to distinguish infant imitation from spontaneous production of the target behavior. The procedure is used in 2 experiments evaluating the imitation of a simple action with a novel toy. The experiments assess both immediate and deferred imitation in each of 2 age groups, 14-month-olds and 2-year-olds. The deferred imitation task involved a 24-hour delay between the modeling and response periods. There was strong evidence that 2-year-old infants could perform both the immediate and deferred imitation tasks, which was expected. The results also showed that 14-month-olds could succeed in both tasks. The discussion considers the implications of the deferred imitation results in light of current data and theorizing concerning representational capacities and long-term memory in infancy.

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