Are babies capable of imitating us? We thought so. However, a new study carried out by the University of Queensland (Australia) pulverizes this theory of yesteryear, stating that although the reaction of these newborns is born out of curiosity, they are not able to imitate until after a few months (and not just a few weeks of life as believed).
Scientific literature had held that babies can imitate facial expressions, gestures, hand movements or even vocal sounds from their first weeks of life, however this new research confirms that this is not the case.
To reach this conclusion, the experts painstakingly studied the responses of a group of 106 nursing babies during their first two months of life (there were babies of 1, 2, 6 and 9 weeks), finding no evidence that demonstrated the ability to imitate of the little ones. That is, the babies do not imitate any behavior they observe, but rather, in light of the results of the experiment, there was the same probability that the baby would perform a different gesture as that of the same one produced by the adult.
“If babies also increase their tongue protrusion (stick their tongue out) when an adult simulates a happy face or points a finger, then it is not a case of imitation, it is probably the emotion of seeing an adult do something interesting ” explains Virginia Slaughter, leader of the work.
The study, which shows that imitation is not an innate behavior but a learning one , has been published in the journal Current Biology.
