Through the years, animals and humans have learned from imitation. This method encourages more efficiency in learning as it bypasses the need for time-consuming trial and error method as a form of learning. This is despite humans making conscious efforts to steer away from this mentality especially when it comes to creating new innovations or starting something new, all of which requires some measure of trial and error. In contrast, a colloquial phrase “Monkey See, Monkey Do” illustrating the imitation of one another in animals is frequently used.
In humans, imitation is most commonly seen among children. A study by Meltzoff & Moore (1977) suggests that infants can do so from the as early as twelve days old, from the mimicking of actions to facial gestures. The research also illustrates that imitation occurs when infants attempt to match what they see (visual input) to their actions (motor output). Another proposed theory is that imitation in children is goal orientated, meaning infants are assumed to react by imitation to a stimulus.
A series of experiments conducted by Bekkering et al. (2000) showed that infants react in the following ways:
- Towards an object – when reaching to touch something
- Towards an agent – when reaching towards an interactive object such as an adult’s fingers
- Towards a movement path – when reaching towards and along in a given direction
- Towards salient features – when reaching towards gestures such as arms crossing.
Similarly, imitation is frequently seen in animals. Although it is less apparent as compared to gestures, animals seem to imitate more in commonly in terms of behavior. Zentall & Akins (2001) speculated in their study that one determining factor for imitation to occur could be the need for social learning among animals. Imprinting is seen as a social learning method that describes how one animal imitates the other. This form of phase-sensitive learning is independent of the consequences of the behavior. One common example is how ducklings follow after their mother duck as they move from one place to another. This form of social learning in animals is also hypothesized by Lorenz (1935) to have a critical period of 13 to 16 hours after hatching, just as language acquisition in humans follow the Critical Age Hypothesis.
Like languages, imprinting as a form of social learning imitation method in animals, is hypothesized to have a critical period for learning. (Image source)
Hence, gesturing can be seen through the imitation of actions by both animals and humans, suggesting the presence of an indirect mode of communication that does not require speech.