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Perspectives on Imitation Volume 1, Mechanisms of Imitation And Perspectives on Imitation Perspectives on Imitation: From Neuroscience to Social Science Volume 1: Mechanisms of Imitation and Imitation in Animals edited by Susan Hurley and Nick Chater A Bradford Book The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England ( 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Stone serif and Stone sans on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong and was printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perspectives on imitation : from neuroscience to social science / Susan Hurley and Nick Chater, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. Mechanisms of imitation and imitation in animals—v. 2. Imitation, human development, and culture. ISBN 0-262-58252-X (set : pbk.)—ISBN 0-262-08335-3 (v. 1 : hc.)—ISBN 0-262-58250-3 (v. 1 : pbk.)—ISBN 0-262-08336-1 (v. 2 : hc.)—ISBN 0-262-58251-1 (v. 2 : pbk.) 1. Imitation. 2. Animal learning. 3. Social psychology. I. Hurley, Susan. II. Chater, Nick. BF357.P47 2005 302—dc22 200404986 10987654321 Contents of Volume 1 Mechanisms of Imitation and Imitation in Animals Contents of Volume 2 ix Introduction: The Importance of Imitation Susan Hurley and Nick Chater 1 I Mechanisms of Imitation 53 1 The Mirror Neuron System and Imitation Giacomo Rizzolatti 55 2 Understanding Others: Imitation, Language, and Empathy Marco Iacoboni 77 3 ‘‘Being Like Me’’: Self–Other Identity, Mirror Neurons, and Empathy Vittorio Gallese 101 4 The Neurophysiology of Imitation and Intersubjectivity Jean Decety and Thierry Chaminade 119 5 An Ideomotor Approach to Imitation Wolfgang Prinz 141 6 Imitation by Association Cecilia Heyes 157 7 The Shared Circuits Hypothesis: A Unified Functional Architecture for Control, Imitation, and Simulation Susan Hurley 177 8 Commentary and Discussion on Mechanisms of Imitation 8.1 Reflections on Mirror Systems J. N. P. Rawlins on Rizzolatti and on Decety and Chaminade 195 vi Contents of Volume 1 8.2 Action Recognition, Imitation, and Language Are Different Michael Arbib on Iacoboni 200 8.3 Evidence for Memetic Drive? Susan Blackmore on Iacoboni 203 8.4 The Role of Mirror Neurons in Imitation Susan Jones on Gallese 205 8.5 Overlapping Brain States while Viewing and Doing Marcel Kinsbourne on Decety and Chaminade 210 8.6 Action, Ideation, and Perception Michael Arbib on W. Prinz 215 8.7 The Application of Ideomotor Theory to Imitation Merlin Donald on W. Prinz 217 8.8 How to Analyze Learning by Imitation Bennett Galef on Heyes 218 8.9 The Imitative Correspondence Problem: Solved or Sidestepped? Andrew Whiten on Heyes 220 II Imitation in Animals 223 9 Detecting, Understanding, and Explaining Imitation by Animals Richard W. Byrne 225 10 Insights into Vocal Imitation in African Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus) Irene M. Pepperberg 243 11 Selective Imitation in Child and Chimpanzee: A Window on the Construal of Others’ Actions Andrew Whiten, Victoria Horner, and Sarah Marshall-Pescini 263 12 Commentary and Discussion on Imitation in Animals 12.1 Imitation in Animals: Function versus Mechanism and the Issue of Novelty Thomas Zentall on Byrne 285 12.2 Novelty and Complexity: Two Problems in Animal (and Human) Imitation Birgit Elsner on Byrne 287 12.3 Do Parrots (and Children) Emulate Speech Sounds? Richard W. Byrne on Pepperberg 290 12.4 Some Reflections on Imitation in Human Language Martin J. Pickering on Pepperberg 293 Contents of Volume 1 vii 12.5 Breathing New Life into the Study of Imitation by Animals: What and When Do Chimpanzees Imitate? Bennett Galef on Whiten, Horner, and Marshall-Pescini 295 12.6 Why Don’t Apes Ape More? Susan Jones on Whiten, Horner, and Marshall-Pescini 297 Bibliography for Volumes 1 and 2 303 Contributors to Volumes 1 and 2 377 Index to Volume 1 381 Index to Volume 2 409 Contents of Volume 2 Imitation, Human Development, and Culture Introduction: The Importance of Imitation Susan Hurley and Nick Chater 1 I Imitation and Human Development 53 1 Imitation and Other Minds: The ‘‘Like Me’’ Hypothesis Andrew N. Meltzoff 55 2 Imitation, Mind Reading, and Simulation Alvin I. Goldman 79 3 Intentional Agents Like Myself Robert M. Gordon 95 4 No Compelling Evidence to Dispute Piaget’s Timetable of the Development of Representational Imitation in Infancy Moshe Anisfeld 107 5 Intention Reading and Imitative Learning Michael Tomasello and Malinda Carpenter 133 6 On Learning What Not to Do: The Emergence of Selective Imitation in Tool Use by Young Children Paul L. Harris and Stephen Want 149 7 Imitation as Entrainment: Brain Mechanisms and Social Consequences Marcel Kinsbourne 163 8 Commentary and Discussion on Imitation and Human Development 8.1 Grasping Action Paul L. Harris on Meltzoff 173 8.2 Do Babies Know What They Look Like? Doppelga¨ngers and the Phenomenology of Infancy Nicholas Humphrey on Meltzoff 178 x Contents of Volume 2 8.3 Construing Selves from Others Wolfgang Prinz on Goldman 180 8.4 Some Reflections on the Theory Theory–Simulation Theory Debate Ruth Garrett Millikan on Goldman 182 8.5 Who Can Imitate Depends on How We Define Imitation Thomas Zentall on Anisfeld 189 8.6 What Does Infant Imitation Tell Us about the Underlying Representations? Birgit Elsner on Anisfeld 191 8.7 Joining the Intentional Dance Guy Claxton on Tomasello and Carpenter 194 8.8 Two Elegant Experiments George Comstock on Harris and Want 197 8.9 Against Copying: Learning When (and Whom) Not to Ape Guy Claxton on Kinsbourne 199 8.10 Imitating Violence Susan Brison on Kinsbourne 202 II Imitation and Culture 9 Why We Are Social Animals: The High Road to Imitation as Social Glue Ap Dijksterhuis 207 10 Deceptive Mimicry in Humans Diego Gambetta 221 11 What Effects Does the Treatment of Violence in the Mass Media Have on People’s Conduct? A Controversy Reconsidered John Eldridge 243 12 Imitation and the Effects of Observing Media Violence on Behavior L. Rowell Huesmann 257 13 Imitation and Moral Development Jesse J. Prinz 267 14 Imitation and Mimesis Merlin Donald 283 15 Imitation and Rationality Robert Sugden 301 16 Common Misunderstandings of Memes (and Genes): The Promise and the Limits of the Genetic Analogy to Cultural Transmission Processes Francisco J. Gil-White 317 Contents of Volume 2 xi 17 Goals versus Memes: Explanation in the Theory of Cultural Evolution Mark Greenberg 339 18 Mendelian and Darwinian Views of Memes and Cultural Change Nick Chater 355 19 Commentary and Discussion on Imitation and Culture 19.1 Not Waving but Drowning Susan Brison on Dijksterhuis 363 19.2 The Imitation Superhighway Harry Litman on Dijksterhuis 365 19.3 The Crimes of Proteus Harry Litman on Gambetta 368 19.4 Media Violence and Aggression, Properly Considered George Comstock on Eldridge 371 19.5 Applying the Science of Imitation to the Imitation of Violence Susan Hurley on Huesmann 380 19.6 Acquiring Morality by Imitating Emotions L. Rowell Huesmann on J. Prinz 386 19.7 Mirror Systems and Adam Smith’s Theory of Sympathy Robert Sugden 388 19.8 The Relation between Language and (Mimetic) Culture Morten H. Christiansen on Donald 391 19.9 A Possible Confusion between Mimetic and Memetic Susan Blackmore on Donald 396 19.10 Imitation as a Tool of Cooperation and Manipulation Paul Seabright on Sugden and on Gambetta 398 19.11 Proving Rationality Mark Greenberg on Sugden 402 19.12 Even Deeper Misunderstandings of Memes Susan Blackmore on Gil-White 406 19.13 Can Memes Meet the Challenge? Susan Blackmore on Greenberg and on Chater 409 Bibliography for Volumes 1 and 2 413 Contributors to Volumes 1 and 2 487 Index to Volume 1 491 Index to Volume 2 519 Volume 1: Mechanisms of Imitation and Imitation in Animals Introduction: The Importance of Imitation Susan Hurley and Nick Chater Imitation is often thought of as a low-level, cognitively undemanding, even childish form of behavior, but recent work across a variety of sciences argues that imitation is a rare ability that is fundamentally linked to char- acteristically human forms of intelligence, in particular to language, cul- ture, and the ability to understand other minds. This burgeoning body of work has important implications for our understanding of ourselves, both individually and socially. Imitation is not just an important factor in hu- man development, it also has a pervasive influence throughout adulthood in ways we are just starting to understand. These two volumes present papers by researchers working in disciplines that include neuroscience and brain imaging, psychology, animal behav- ior, philosophy, computer science, education studies, anthropology, media studies, economics, sociology, and law. Among the authors are many who are leading figures in imitation research and who have produced seminal work on imitation. They also include younger researchers and scholars commenting on work in disciplines other than their own. One of our main aims in these volumes has been to provide a resource that brings together important work on this topic from various disciplines, makes it accessible across disciplines, and fosters interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. In partic- ular, we want to convey why imitation is a topic of such intense current interest in the cognitive sciences and how important this work is for the social sciences and for philosophy, where it has yet to be assimilated.
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