Imitation in infancy / edited by Jacqueline Nadel and George Butterworth.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Nadel, Jacqueline.

Butterworth, George, 1946-2000.

Series:

Cambridge studies in cognitive perceptual development

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imitation in children.

Developmental psychology.

Physical Description:

x, 290 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Summary:

This is the first book to bring together the extensive modern evidence for innate imitation in babies. Modern research has shown imitation to be a natural mechanism of learning and communication that deserves to be at center stage in developmental psychology. Yet, the very possibility of imitation in newborn humans has had a controversial history. Defining imitation has proved to be far from straightforward and scientific evidence for its existence in neonates is only now becoming accepted, despite more than a century of inquiry. In this book, some of the world's foremost researchers on imitation and intellectual development review evidence for imitation in newborn babies. They discuss the development of imitation in infancy, in both normal and atypical populations and in comparison with other primate species, stressing the fundamental importance of imitation in human development as a foundation of communication and a precursor to symbolic processes. Researchers and graduate students in developmental psychology will welcome this important synthesis of recent research.

ISBN:

0521580331

OCLC:

40881948