A new study has found that six-month-old babies love to be copied. In fact, babies both understand when adults are imitating them and perceive their imitators as more friendly.
In the study, researchers met with six-month-old babies in their homes and imitated them in two different ways. The researchers either imitated everything the babies did exactly or imitated only the physical movements of the babies without changing their facial expressions. “Imitating young infants seems to be an effective way to catch their interest and bond with them.
The mothers were quite surprised to see their infants joyfully engaging in imitation games with a stranger, but also impressed by the infants’ behaviors,” said the study author. Babies were not only able to recognize and respond positively to adults who were imitating them, but they then repeated the behavior multiple times to try to receive another positive reaction from the adults.
Comments