Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Imitative Behavior”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 829 records · Page 46Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Resonance behaviors and mirror neurons.

This article is subdivided into two parts. In the first part we review the properties of a particular class of premotor neurons, the "mirror" neurons. With this term we define neurons that discharge both when the monkey makes a particular action and when it observes another individual (monkey or human) making a similar action. The second part is an attempt to give a neurophysiological account of the mechanisms underlying behaviors where an individual reproduces, overtly or internally, movements or actions made by another individual. We will refer to these behaviors as "resonance behaviors". We distinguish two types of resonance behavior. The first type is characterized by imitation, immediate or with delay, of movements made by other individuals. Examples of resonance behavior of this type are the "imitative" behaviors observed in birds, young infants and patients with frontal lesions. The second type of resonance behavior is characterized by the occurrence, at the observation of an action, of a neural pattern, which, when internally generated, determines the making of the observed action. In this type of resonance behavior the observed action is, typically, not repeated (overtly). We argue that resonance behavior of the second type is at the basis of the understanding of actions made by others. At the end of the article we review evidence of mirror mechanisms in humans and discuss their anatomical localizations.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Excitotoxic lesions of the parafascicular nucleus produce deficits in a socially transmitted food preference.

The parafascicular (PF) nucleus, a posterior component of the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus, is considered to be an essential structure in the feedback circuits of basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical systems that critically participate in cognitive processes. To study the PF contribution to processing of behaviorally significant information during specific episodes of learning, we investigated the effects of damaging the PF nucleus in the acquisition of a natural form of social olfactory learning, the socially transmitted food preference (STFP) task. This task is a non-spatial paradigm that exhibits some of the characteristics of relational memory because it requires that animals use information obtained in one episode to guide later behavior in different circumstances. Adult male Wistar rats were submitted to pretraining bilateral N-methyl-D-aspartate (0.15 M, pH 7.4) lesions of the PF (0.4 microl/side, 0.2 microl/min). The behavioral effects of PF lesions were compared to vehicle- and sham-operated control groups and two retention delays were considered in separate groups: immediately (Lesion-I, Vehicle-I, and Sham-I groups) and 24h after training (Lesion-24, Vehicle-24, and Sham-24 groups). PF lesions produced delay-independent impairments in the STFP suggesting that this nucleus might modulate the acquisition of this odor-odor association task. Results are discussed in the context of medial prefrontal cortex deafferentation induced by PF damage.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2005

Social learning in noncolonial insects?

Social-information use has generated great interest lately and has been shown to have important implications for the ecology and evolution of species. Learning about predators or predation risk from others may provide low-cost life-saving information and would be expected to have adaptive payoffs in any species where conspecifics are observable and behave differently under predation risk. Yet, social learning and social-information use in general have been largely restricted to vertebrates. Here, we show that crickets adapt their predator-avoidance behavior after having observed the behavior of knowledgeable others and maintain these behavioral changes lastingly after demonstrators are gone. These results point toward social learning, a contingency never shown before in noncolonial insects. We show that these long-lasting changes cannot instead be attributed to long re-emergence times, long-lasting effects of alarm pheromones, or residual odor cues. Our findings imply that social learning is likely much more phylogenetically widespread than currently acknowledged and that reliance on social information is determined by ecological rather than taxonomic constrains, and they question the generally held assumption that social learning is restricted to large-brained animals assumed to possess superior cognitive abilities.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2004

Context and cognitions: environmental risk, social influence, and adolescent substance use.

This study examined the cognitions thought to mediate the impact of context on adolescent substance use and also the extent to which context moderates the relations between these cognitions and use. Risk cognitions and behaviors were assessed in a panel of 746 African American adolescents (M age 10.5 at Wave 1, 12.2 at Wave 2). Results indicated that adolescents living in high-risk neighborhoods were more inclined toward substance use and more likely to be using at Wave 2. These context effects were mediated by the adolescents' risk cognitions: their risk images, willingness to use, and intentions to use. Also, context moderated the relation between willingness and use (the relation was stronger in high-risk neighborhoods) but it did not moderate the intentions to use relation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The relations of maternal practices and characteristics to children's vicarious emotional responsiveness.

This study examined the relations of maternal vicarious emotional responding and child-rearing practices, as well as familial emotional environment, to 5-6 and 8-9-year-old children's vicarious emotional responding. There were some correspondences between mothers' and children's heart rate, facial, and self-reported reactions to a sympathy-inducing film. Maternal sympathy/perspective taking and reinforcement of sympathy/prosocial behavior, as well as negative subordinate emotion in the home, were associated with markers of girls' sympathy; mothers' personal distress (for girls), restrictiveness regarding displays of hurtful negative emotions (particularly for young girls), and negative dominant emotion in the home (for both sexes) were associated with markers of personal distress. Mothers' linking of the film character's experience to children's own experience was associated with children's responsiveness to the film, and mother's verbalizations during the film concerning her own emotional state and role taking were associated with boys' self-reported sympathy.

Arousal↗
PubMed1985

Teaching between-class generalization of toy play behavior to handicapped children.

In this study, young children with severe and moderate handicaps were taught to generalize play responses. A multiple baseline across responses design, replicated with four children, was used to assess the effects of generalization training within four sets of toys on generalization to untrained toys from four other sets. The responses taught were unique for each set of toys. Across the four participants, training to generalize within-toy sets resulted in complete between-class generalization in 11 sets, partial generalization in 3 sets, and no generalization in 2 sets. No generalization occurred to another class of toys that differed from the previous sets in that they produced a reaction to the play movement (e.g., pianos). Implications for conducting research using strategies based on class interrelationships in training contexts are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1993

Mechanisms involved in the observational conditioning of fear.

Three experiments support the hypothesis that mechanisms involved in observational conditioning (OC) of fear are similar to those of direct classical conditioning and involve the organism attempting to detect the causal structure of its environment. Experiment 1, a correlational analysis, shows that model monkeys' fear behaviors on snake trials (unconditioned stimulus [US]) were highly correlated with observer monkeys' fear (unconditioned response) while watching the models' fear. In Experiment 2, all observers showed distress while watching the model's fear during Session 1 of OC, but only observers who could see the snake to which the model was reacting continued to show fear during subsequent OC sessions, suggesting that the model's fear is an easily habituable US. In Experiment 3, observers acquired significant fear of snakes after 1 OC session, indicating that the continued fear of those Experiment 2 observers that could see the snake may reflect their own acquired fear of snakes.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

The importance of eyes: how infants interpret adult looking behavior.

Two studies assessed the gaze following of 12-, 14-, and 18-month-old infants. The experimental manipulation was whether an adult could see the targets. In Experiment 1, the adult turned to targets with either open or closed eyes. Infants at all ages looked at the adult's target more in the open- versus closed-eyes condition. In Experiment 2, an inanimate occluder, a blindfold, was compared with a headband control. Infants 14- and 18-months-old looked more at the adult's target in the headband condition. Infants were not simply responding to adult head turning, which was controlled, but were sensitive to the status of the adult's eyes. In the 2nd year, infants interpreted adult looking as object-directed--an act connecting the gazer and the object.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Regulation of transcription by translational components in coupled translation-transcription cell-free system.

A coupled translation-transcription cell-free system was established from eukaryotic cells. The biosynthetic activity of this coupled system closely resembles the synthetic behavior of cells in vivo, and exhibits regulatory phenomena similar to that of intact cells. The translational system consists of rabbit reticulocyte lysate, or its components fractionated by centrifugation. The transcriptional portion consists of cockerel liver nuclei. Incorporation of amino acids into protein by the coupled system is linear for hours. Similarly, transcription in the coupled system is continuous for hours and is proportional with time. More than 90% of the transcriptional products are secreted into the incubation medium. The components of the translational system influence and regulate transcriptional activities. In the presence of ribosomes the nuclei transcribe mostly poly(A)+ RNA with alpha-amanitin sensitivity consistent with activation of RNA polymerase II. Hybrid selection experiments demonstrate authentic preproalbumin mRNA among the transcriptional products. The putative mRNA secreted into the medium in the coupled system is found on polysomes, indicating translation of de novo synthesized message. Addition of excess reticulocyte mRNP to the medium of the coupled system results in transcription of primarily ribosomal RNA, 5S RNA, and tRNA, the products of RNA polymerases I and III. These activities closely imitate the behavior of liver in vivo under conditions of nutritional shifts or hormonal influences. The coupled system transcribes, processes, and transports substantial quantities of RNA, about 1.6 micrograms/10(6) nuclei/h. Thus, a coupled system has been established that lends itself to the exploration of regulatory interactions of cell components as it appears to closely resemble the in vivo situation.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Comment on "Social contagion, adolescent sexual behavior, and pregnancy: a nonlinear dynamic EMOSA model".

The epidemic model of the onset of social activities (EMOSA model) for adolescent sexuality by J. L. Rodgers, D. C. Rowe, and M. Buster (1998) is examined. Strengths of the model include the nonlinear dynamic specification that seems reasonably realistic and the potential when used as a theoretical tool to generate new hypotheses for further testing at the individual level. Limitations include the lack of a well-developed statistical framework, the inability to include a variety of predictors to capture both social contagion and individual differences in the same model, and the focus on aggregate-level data. The EMOSA model for sexuality can be reparameterized to a hazard rate or an event history model that eliminates these shortcomings. Growth curve analysis represents another analytic alternative for the EMOSA model that also does not have these limitations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Role of auditory feedback in canary song development.

As in other songbirds, early deafening had drastic effects on the song of the roller canary, a cardueline finch, resulting in a song that was much simpler and more variable than the normal. The repertoire of the syllable types, of which the song is made, was reduced from 30 to a mean of 5.0. Loud white noise was successfully used as a reversible method of cutting off auditory feedback from vocal behavior. Although suffering permanent elevation of hearing thresholds, birds reared in noise to 200 days, singing at first like deaf birds, subsequently increased their syllable repertoires significantly. Birds reared in noise to weaning at 40 days, again partly deaf, achieved a normal repertoire size when stimulated with a singing adult. Without such stimulation the repertoire was significantly reduced, showing that canary song is not fully innate, as had been thought. Although abnormal, the song of deaf canaries retained more species-specific features than did the song of emberizine sparrows when the songs developed without auditory feedback. The results are interpreted in terms of a sensory template theory.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Self-monitoring without awareness: using mimicry as a nonconscious affiliation strategy.

This research sought to extend the current conceptualization of self-monitoring by examining whether self-monitoring motives and behaviors can operate outside of conscious awareness. Two studies examined nonconscious mimicry among high and low self-monitors in situations varying in affiliative cues. Participants interacted with a confederate who shook her foot (Study 1) or touched her face (Study 2). In both studies, high self-monitors were more likely to mimic the confederate's subtle gestures when they believed the confederate to be a peer (Study 1) or someone superior to them (Study 2). Low self-monitors mimicked to the same degree across conditions. Thus, when the situation contains affiliative cues, high self-monitors use mimicry as a nonconscious strategy to get along with their interaction partner.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

A comparison of the effects of structured play and facilitated play approaches on preschoolers with autism. A case study.

This study compared the effect of structured play (SP) and facilitated play (FP) in promoting spontaneity and responsiveness in communication and play behaviors in children with autism. SP is characterized by the use of mass practice trials under the instruction of the experimenter while FP incorporated incidental teaching with multiple exemplars. Eight preschoolers participated in a crossover design of both play conditions. Gains in appropriate communication and play were observed across both treatments. Respondent communicative acts occurred more frequently across all participants during SP compared with FP. The preliminary results indicate an interaction between the mental age of the child and the teaching paradigm used. The need to match treatment goals and specific methods of the play intervention to the skill profile of participants is discussed.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1975

Modifying the verbal expression of a child with autistic behaviors.

The Bell and Howell Language Master was used in conjunction with the Monterey Language Program to modify the verbal expression of a nine-year-old boy with autistic behaviors. The goal was to train the child to correctly name up to 10 pictures presented individually. Two training modes were used. For one, the therapist spoke at the time (live voice). For the other, she presented a tape recording of her voice via a Language Master. The results suggested that the child's responses to the Language Master were as good as, if not better than, his responses to the live-voice presentations. In addition, observation indicated that he responded more readily to the Language Master presentations. His spontaneous speech was also noted by independent observers to improve in his classroom and in his home. Possible reasons for the improvement in verbal expression are considered.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMed1976

The development and functional control of reading-comprehension behavior.

Reading comprehension, indicated by motor behavior and multiple-choice picture selection called for in written instructions, was taught to an autistic child using verbal prompts, modelling, and physical guidance. The child was rewarded for correct behaviors to training items; nonrewarded probes were used to assess generalization. Probable maintaining events were assessed through their sequential removal in a reversal design. Results showed: (a) following acquisition, performance was maintained at a near-100% level when candy, praise, attention, and training were removed, (b) absence of other persons was correlated with a marked decrease in performance, whereas their presence was associated with performance at near 100%, and (c) performance generalized to probes and across experimenters. Rewards, which may have been reinforcing during acquisition, did not appear necessary to maintain later performance. Instead, presence of others (a setting event) was demonstrated to have control over maintained performance.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1979

Influence of modelling and feedback provided by the supervisors in a microskills training program for beginning counsellors.

Investigated the influence of modelling and feedback on the effectiveness of a microskills training program for beginning counsellors. The microskills taught were: attending behavior, minimal encourages to talk, open questions, and reflection of feeling and content. Twenty-four trainee counsellors were allocated to three treatment groups: (1) no modelling, no feedback (NMF); (2) modelling and feedback from the supervisor (MF); and (3) feedback from the supervisor (F). Analysis of variance showed that MF was superior to NMF and F in increasing use of the skill reflection of feeling. These results lead to the conclusion that the microskills taught differ in level of difficulty, and, hence, in the amount of information, through instructions, practice, modelling or feedback, that will bring these skills to ceiling level. Supervisor modelling and feedback appear to improve learning of the comparatively difficult skill, reflection of feeling.

Affect↗
PubMed2005

Motor learning by observing.

Learning complex motor behaviors like riding a bicycle or swinging a golf club is based on acquiring neural representations of the mechanical requirements of movement (e.g., coordinating muscle forces to control the club). Here we provide evidence that mechanisms matching observation and action facilitate motor learning. Subjects who observed a video depicting another person learning to reach in a novel mechanical environment (imposed by a robot arm) performed better when later tested in the same environment than subjects who observed similar movements but no learning; moreover, subjects who observed learning of a different environment performed worse. We show that this effect is not based on conscious strategies but instead depends on the implicit engagement of neural systems for movement planning and control.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Relationships between adolescent drug use and parental drug behaviors.

The present study examined some previously reported relationships between drug use by adolescents and perceived attitudes and behaviors of their parents. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to the student body of an inner-city secondary school for difficult students. Relationships between parental use of drugs and adolescent use of the same drugs were moderate and roughly equivalent across drugs. However, parental use of marijuana was strongly related to the adolescent's use of other, harder drugs such as opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, and barbiturates. This finding is explained within the framework of Kandel's postulated stages of drug initiation. It points to a need for further study of parental influences, which may be increasingly problematic as more individuals who have grown up in our marijuana-accepting society become parents of adolescents.

Adolescent↗