Imitating step by step: a detailed analysis of 9- to 15-month-olds' reproduction of a three-step action sequence

To investigate what infants around their first birthday learn from observing an action sequence, 9- to 15-month-olds' imitative behavior was compared in three conditions: a demonstration group watched three target action steps and a final outcome, a control group observed only the third step and final outcome, and a baseline group received no demonstration. After a short delay, the demonstration infants of all ages produced more target actions than the control and baseline infants. Moreover, the latency to the first step was shortest in the demonstration condition. Data about the performance of the single steps in each age sample revealed which target actions were novel to the infants, and which steps were learned by observation. Infants in the control condition did not generate the unseen target action steps. It is concluded that infants' memory capacity and their ability to encode action-effect relations contribute to their imitation of an action sequence.