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The case against newborn imitation grows stronger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2017

Susan S. Jones*
Affiliation:
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. jones1@indiana.edu

Abstract

The claim that human newborns imitate is widely accepted and influential. Yet reliable evidence that newborns match modeled behaviors is limited, and there is no empirically based explanation of how the knowledge that imitation requires could develop before birth. In their target article, Keven & Akins (K&A) contribute important new evidence to an alternative account of newborns' matching that challenges the newborn imitation claim.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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