The Imitative Mind

by Meltzoff, Andrew N.; Prinz, Wolfgang

• ISBN13: 9781107403277
• ISBN10: 1107403278
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-15
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Modern research demonstrates that imitation is more complex and interesting than classical theories proposed. Monkeys do not imitate whereas humans are prolific imitators. This book provides an analysis of empirical work on imitation and shows how much can be learned through interdisciplinary research ranging from cells to individuals, apes to men, and babies to adults. Covering diverse perspectives on a great puzzle of human psychology, the book is multidisciplinary in its approach to revealing how and why we imitate.

Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview

An interdisciplinary introduction to the imitative mind and brain

Developmental and Evolutionary Approaches to Imitation

Building blocks for a developmental theory of imitation

Imitation and imitation recognition: functional use in preverbal infants and nonverbal children with autism

Self-awareness, other-awareness, and secondary representation

Notes on individual differences and the assumed elusiveness of neonatal imitation

Ego function of early imitation

The imitator's representation of the imitated: ape and child

Seeing actions as hierarchically organised structures: great ape manual skills

Cognitive Approaches to Imitation, Body Scheme, and Perception-action Coding

Experimental approaches to imitation

Imitation: common mechanisms in the observation and execution of finger and mouth movements

Goal-directed imitation

Visuomotor couplings in object-orientated and imitative actions

On bodies and events

What is the body schema?

Neuroscience Underpinnings of Imitation and Apraxia

From mirror neurons to imitation: facts and speculations

Cell populations in the banks of the superior temporal sulcus of the macaque and imitation

Is there such a thing as a functional equivalence between imagined, observed, and executed action?

The role of imitation in body ownership and mental growth

Imitation, apraxia, and hemisphere dominance

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