Andrew Meltzof & Keith Moore 1977

AIMS: Andrew Meltzof & Keith Moore wanted to investigate imitation of facial expression in two- and three-week-old infants.

PROCEDURE (METHOD): Babies were presented with a set of 3 facial expressions - tongue pull, lip protrusion and open mouth - and 1 hand movement involving sequential finger movement. A dummy was positioned in the infant’s mouth to prevent any movement before and after presentation of the behaviour by the model, the dummy was removed from the infant’s mouth and the baby’s immediate response/behaviour was recorded on a close-up video. Independent judges were then asked to rte the infant’s response for likeness to any of the 4 target behaviours. Raters were not aware of which expression or movement the baby had been exposed to.

FINDINGS (RESULTS): The independent ratings showed there was a significant association between the model’s behaviour and the behaviour of the baby, with children able to imitate specific facial expressions or hand movements.

CONCLUSIONS: Very young infants will spontaneously imitate facial and hand movements of adult models.

CRITICISMS (EVALUATION): Critics have suggested that babies will respond in a similar way to inanimate objects - eg: an approaching pen (S W Jacobsen 1979). Eugene Abravanel & N G DeYong (1991) found that 5- and 12-week-old babies would imitate tongue pulling and mouth opening by human models but not when the expressions were simulated using objects. Imitations of facial expressions and hand gestures have since been observed in babies as young as 3 days old!

The question of whether the imitation shown in this type of study is intentional is arguable and the exact role of imitation in the development of the child’s social understanding is not clear. However, there is no doubt that that the infant’s capacity for imitation demonstrates how babies seem to be able to behave as though they are social beings from the day they are born. Although perhaps not initially intentional, behaviours such as imitation, crying, etc, might seem to the adult to be intentional and thus lead the adult carer to feel closer to the child.