Biomaterial Database

Generalized imitation in preschool boys. 1994

E Kymissis, and C L Poulson

Department of Psychology, Queens College/CUNY, Flushing 11367-1597.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which the generalized motor imitation paradigm developed by Baer and Deguchi (1985) applies to the vocal imitation of preschool boys. Five normally developing male preschool children between 3 and 5 years of age served as subjects. We presented the children with four choices: Matching, Nonmatching, Listening, and Waiting. Once we established a baseline preference measure, we introduced reinforcement of imitation for a different vocal response (color naming). The effect of this manipulation was to increase the preference for matching for three of the five children. The results are consistent with the conditioned-reinforcement hypothesis regarding generalized imitation. They are also consistent with previous research showing that not all children prefer to imitate following direct reinforcement of other imitative behavior.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D002666	Psychology, Child	Branch of psychology involving the study of normal and abnormal behavior of children.	Child Psychology,Infant Psychology,Pediatric Psychology,Psychology, Infant,Psychology, Pediatric
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D003116	Color	The visually perceived property of objects created by absorption or reflection of specific wavelengths of light.	Colors
D003213	Conditioning, Psychological	Simple form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response.	Conditioning, Psychology,Psychological Conditioning,Social Learning Theory,Social Learning Theories,Theory, Social Learning
D003463	Cues	Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond.	Cue
D005793	Generalization, Psychological	The phenomenon of an organism's responding to all situations similar to one in which it has been conditioned.	Generalization (Psychology),Generalization, Psychology,Generalizations (Psychology),Generalizations, Psychological,Generalizations, Psychology,Psychological Generalization,Psychological Generalizations,Psychology Generalization,Psychology Generalizations
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012919	Social Behavior	Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual or group usually of the same species.	Sociality,Behavior, Social,Behaviors, Social,Social Behaviors
D014040	Token Economy	A practice whereby tokens representing money, toys, candy, etc., are given as secondary reinforcers contingent upon certain desired behaviors or performances.	Token Reinforcement,Economy, Token,Economies, Token,Reinforcement, Token,Reinforcements, Token,Token Economies,Token Reinforcements