Data for: Only Domain-Specific Imitation Practice Makes Imitation Perfect

In order to identify the component cognitive processes underlying spatial imitation learning, we presented all participants with a pre- and post-practice spatial imitation test. Children that failed to correctly imitate during the pre-test were randomly assigned to one of four groups (3 experimental practice groups and 1 "free play" no practice group). children in the Spatial Imitation group, practiced both jointly attending, vicariously encoding and subsequently copying the observed novel spatial sequences. In the Item Imitation group, children practiced both jointly attending, vicariously encoding and copying a series of observed novel item-based sequences, rather than spatial-based sequences. In the Trial-and-Error group, children practiced encoding and recalling a series of novel spatial sequences entirely through individual (associative) learning. Children in the Free play “no practice” control group, played a touchscreen drawing game that controlled for practice time on the touch-screen and mirrored some of the same actions and responses used in the experimental conditions. Results of the difference between pre- and post-practice effects on novel spatial imitation sequences showed that only the Spatial Imitation practice group significantly improved relative to the Free Play group. Individual Spatial Trial-and-Error practice did not significantly improve spatial imitation. The effect of Item Imitation practice was intermediate. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that general processes alone support imitation learning and is more consistent with mosaic models that posit an additive—interaction—effect on imitation performance mediated by both specialized imitation mechanisms, as well as input from less specialized social attention or social learning mechanisms.

为了识别支撑空间模仿学习的核心认知加工过程，我们为所有被试施测了练习前与练习后的空间模仿测试。在预测试中未能正确完成模仿任务的儿童被随机分配至四组：3个实验练习组与1个“自由游戏”无练习对照组。空间模仿组（Spatial Imitation group）的儿童需练习联合注意、替代性编码，并随后复刻观察到的新颖空间序列。物品模仿组（Item Imitation group）的儿童则练习联合注意、替代性编码，并复刻一系列观察到的新颖物品导向序列，而非空间导向序列。试错组（Trial-and-Error group）的儿童完全通过个体（联想）学习，练习编码与回忆一系列新颖空间序列。自由游戏“无练习”对照组的儿童进行触屏绘画游戏，该游戏匹配了各组在触屏设备上的练习时长，并复刻了实验条件中使用的部分同类动作与反应。针对练习前后效应在新颖空间模仿序列任务上的差值分析结果显示，仅空间模仿练习组相较于自由游戏组出现了显著提升。个体空间试错练习并未显著改善空间模仿能力。物品模仿练习的效应处于中间水平。上述结果与“仅靠通用加工过程支撑模仿学习”的假说相悖，且更契合镶嵌式模型（mosaic models）——该模型提出，由专门化模仿机制，以及来自非专门化社会注意或社会学习机制的输入共同介导了对模仿表现的累加-交互效应。