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 991 records · Page 55Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Song copying by humpback whales: themes and variations.

Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) produce long, structured sequences of sound underwater, commonly called "songs." Humpbacks progressively modify their songs over time in ways that suggest that individuals are copying song elements that they hear being used by other singers. Little is known about the factors that determine how whales learn from their auditory experiences. Song learning in birds is better understood and appears to be constrained by stable core attributes such as species-specific sound repertoires and song syntax. To clarify whether similar constraints exist for song learning by humpbacks, we analyzed changes over 14 years in the sounds used by humpback whales singing in Hawaiian waters. We found that although the properties of individual sounds within songs are quite variable over time, the overall distribution of certain acoustic features within the repertoire appears to be stable. In particular, our findings suggest that species-specific constraints on temporal features of song sounds determine song form, whereas spectral variability allows whales to flexibly adapt song elements.

Acoustics↗
PubMed2006

Reproducing human actions and action sequences: "Do as I Do!" in a dog.

We present evidence that a dog (Philip, a 4-year-old tervueren) was able to use different human actions as samples against which to match his own behaviour. First, Philip was trained to repeat nine human-demonstrated actions on command ('Do it!'). When his performance was markedly over chance in response to demonstration by one person, testing with untrained action sequences and other demonstrators showed some ability to generalise his understanding of copying. In a second study, we presented Philip with a sequence of human actions, again using the 'Do as I do' paradigm. All demonstrated actions had basically the same structure: the owner picked up a bottle from one of six places; transferred it to one of the five other places and then commanded the dog ('Do it!'). We found that Philip duplicated the entire sequence of moving a specific object from one particular place to another more often than expected by chance. Although results point to significant limitations in his imitative abilities, it seems that the dog could have recognized the action sequence, on the basis of observation alone, in terms of the initial state, the means, and the goal. This suggests that dogs might acquire abilities by observation that enhance their success in complex socio-behavioural situations.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Neonatal imitation in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) tested with two paradigms.

Primate species differ in their imitative performance, perhaps reflecting differences in imitative capacity. The developmentally earliest form of imitation in humans, neonatal imitation, occurs in early interactions with social partners, and may be a more accurate index of innate capacity than imitation of actions on objects, which requires more cognitive ability. This study assessed imitative capacity in five neonatal chimpanzees, within a narrow age range (7-15 days of age), by testing responses to facial and vocal actions with two different test paradigms (structured and communicative). Imitation of mouth opening was found in both paradigms. In the communicative paradigm, significant agreement was found between infant actions and demonstrations. Additionally, chimpanzees matched the sequence of three actions of the TC model, but only on the second demonstration. Newborn chimpanzees matched more modeled actions in the communicative test than in the structured paradigm. These performances of chimpanzees, at birth, are in agreement with the literature, supporting a conclusion that imitative capacity is not unique to the human species. Developmental histories must be more fully considered in the cross-species study of imitation, as there is a greater degree of innate imitative capacity than previously known. Socialization practices interact with innate and developing competencies to determine the outcome of imitation tests later in life.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed2005

Association with delinquent peers: intervention effects for youth in the juvenile justice system.

Although association with delinquent peers is a recognized precursor to ongoing delinquency problems, youth in the juvenile justice system are commonly prescribed intervention services that aggregate delinquent youth. However, little is known about the process variables that mediate the relationship between aggregating youth in intervention settings and poor subsequent outcomes. We examined data from two randomized intervention trials (one male sample and one female sample) with delinquent adolescents placed either in Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) or in group care. Path analyses suggested that the MTFC youth had fewer associations with delinquent peers at 12 months than did the group care youth. Further, associating with delinquent peers during the course of the intervention mediated the relationship between group condition and 12-month delinquent peer association. Implications for the development of interventions with delinquent youth are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Focused stimulation for a child with autism spectrum disorder: a treatment study.

This study explored the use of focused stimulation as an intervention technique for a three-year-old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). His parents were trained to use focused stimulation to facilitate comprehension of what is x doing question forms. Responses to question probes were collected at both pre- and post-treatment intervals. At the beginning of the study, the child did not respond correctly to any of the target questions. Following intervention, the child made significant gains towards the target goal, but little change towards a control goal used for comparison. These findings provide preliminary support for the usefulness of focused stimulation as an intervention strategy for at least some children with ASD.

Attention↗
PubMed2006

Early predictors of communication development in young children with autism spectrum disorder: joint attention, imitation, and toy play.

This study investigated the unique contributions of joint attention, imitation, and toy play to language ability and rate of development of communication skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sixty preschool-aged children with ASD were assessed using measures of joint attention, imitation, toy play, language, and communication ability. Two skills, initiating protodeclarative joint attention and immediate imitation, were most strongly associated with language ability at age 3-4 years, whereas toy play and deferred imitation were the best predictors of rate of communication development from age 4 to 6.5 years. The implications of these results for understanding the nature and course of language development in autism and for the development of targeted early interventions are discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed2007

Developmental correlates of different types of motor imitation in young children with autism spectrum disorders.

This study used a concurrent correlational design to examine associations between three types of motor imitation with objects and three proposed correlates in 32 two- and three-year-old children diagnosed with ASD. Attention-following and fine motor ability were significant, unique correlates of imitation in an observational learning context. Attention-following was a significant correlate of imitation in a direct elicitation context. Social reciprocity was a significant correlate of imitation in an interactive play context. These associations were observed after controlling for general developmental level. Results support previous findings that motor imitation may not reflect a unitary construct for children with ASD and that different skills may underlie the performance of different types of motor imitation. Implications for interventions targeting motor imitation are discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed2006

Slowing down presentation of facial movements and vocal sounds enhances facial expression recognition and induces facial-vocal imitation in children with autism.

This study examined the effects of slowing down presentation of facial expressions and their corresponding vocal sounds on facial expression recognition and facial and/or vocal imitation in children with autism. Twelve autistic children and twenty-four normal control children were presented with emotional and non-emotional facial expressions on CD-Rom, under audio or silent conditions, and under dynamic visual conditions (slowly, very slowly, at normal speed) plus a static control. Overall, children with autism showed lower performance in expression recognition and more induced facial-vocal imitation than controls. In the autistic group, facial expression recognition and induced facial-vocal imitation were significantly enhanced in slow conditions. Findings may give new perspectives for understanding and intervention for verbal and emotional perceptive and communicative impairments in autistic populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The effects of enhanced milieu teaching and a voice output communication aid on the requesting of three children with autism.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of enhanced milieu teaching when combined with a voice output communication aid on the requesting skills of three children with autism. The research design was a multiple probe across participants. All sessions were conducted during 5-min play sessions in the child's classroom. All three children learned to use the voice output communication aid to request items during play. Additionally, all three children increased their total requesting during play.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed2007

Parental smoking and adolescent smoking stages: the role of parents' current and former smoking, and family structure.

This study examined the role of parents' current and former smoking in predicting adolescent smoking acquisition stages. Participants were 7,426 students from 33 schools in the Netherlands. Participants' survey data were gathered at baseline and at two-year follow-up. Logistic regression models showed that parental smoking status was not only predictive of transitions from never smoking to trying smoking, monthly smoking, or daily smoking, but also of the progression from trying smoking to daily smoking. Further, although parental former smoking was weaker associated with progressive adolescent smoking transitions than current parental smoking, however absence of parental smoking history was most preventive. Compared to the situation in which both parents had never smoked, cessation of parental smoking after the child was born was associated with an increased risk for children to smoke. Adolescents living in a single-parent family were at greater risk of smoking than adolescents living in an intact family with both mother and father. In sum, the role of parental smoking is not restricted to smoking onset and is present throughout different phases of the acquisition process. Results support the delayed modeling hypothesis that parental smoking affects the likelihood for children to smoke even when parents quit many years before. Children living in single-parent families are only exposed to the behaviour of one parent; in two-parent families the behaviour from one parent may magnify or buffer the behaviour of the other parent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2007

Intonation and emotion in autistic spectrum disorders.

The classic picture of an autistic individual includes an impoverished ability to interpret or express emotion. The prosody of spoken language in autistic children is thought to lack emotional content. In this study, the verbal intonation of children with autism was examined and compared to that of children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and normal controls (ctrl). Utterances elicited by repetition and by spontaneous story completion were analyzed by quantifying phonetic features (pitch, amplitude, and length) and comparing them to subjective ratings of produced emotion (happy, sad or angry). Since the most consistent phonetic correlate of these emotional targets has been demonstrated to be pitch range, speakers with autistic spectrum disorders were expected to have decreased pitch range; however in the repetition task, autistic subjects actually had a larger pitch range than the other groups. Other measures of intonation including amplitude, duration, and location of pitch peak revealed defects that are more complex than predicted. In spontaneous speech, autistic subjects performed more poorly on both phonetic targets and subjective ratings than ctrls, and AS subjects fell between autistics and normals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

[The Werther effect. Significance, mechanisms, consequences].

The Werther effect is a highly regarded phenomenon in media effect research. Since the trail-blazing studies conducted by the American sociologist Phillips, there have been a great many attempts to quantify and evaluate imitative deeds that follow genuine suicides and apparent attempts at suicide. This paper starts by tracing the milestones along the way of research into the Werther effect. The concrete imitation patterns following suicides are then discussed, and the implications for responsible journalistic reporting that arise out of them are presented. This seems to be necessary, since despite many-sided and detailed findings on the Werther effect in Germany, there have so far been no experiments devoted to ways of exploiting these research results practically in a suicide prevention programme. Whilst in other countries preliminary guidelines for journalistic reporting have already been elaborated and in some countries even implemented, such efforts are still only in the very early stages in Germany.

Germany↗