嬰兒喜歡你模仿他們

嬰兒喜歡你模仿他們

A baby smiles and laughs. You smile and laugh right back. The baby pounds his tiny, curled-up fist on the table. You mirror his action, lightly pounding yours back.

嬰兒總是笑個(gè)不停。你也會(huì)報(bào)以微笑和大笑。嬰兒用他那彎曲的小拳頭在桌子上猛擊。你模仿他的動(dòng)作，輕輕地拍著你的背。

When adults imitate them, babies look and smile at them longer. (Photo: Studio Romantic/Shutterstock)

This imitation game comes naturally. It's a simple way for parents to have fun with their tiny humans. And new research shows that babies not only realize that adults are imitating them, but they also seem to enjoy it.

這種模仿游戲很自然。這是一種簡(jiǎn)單的方法，讓父母和他們的小嬰兒玩得開(kāi)心。新的研究表明，嬰兒不僅意識(shí)到成年人在模仿他們，而且似乎也很享受。

"Imitating young infants seems to be an effective way to catch their interest and bond with them. The mothers were quite surprised to see their infants joyfully engaging in imitation games with a stranger, but also impressed by the infants' behaviors," lead author Gabriela-Alina Sauciuc, researcher at Lund University, said in a statement.

“模仿小嬰兒似乎是一種吸引他們興趣并與他們建立聯(lián)系的有效方式。隆德大學(xué)的研究人員、研究報(bào)告的主要撰寫(xiě)者加布里埃爾-阿麗娜·蘇奇克在一份聲明中說(shuō):“這些媽媽們很驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的寶寶能開(kāi)心地和一個(gè)陌生人玩模仿游戲，但同時(shí)嬰兒的行為也給她們留下了深刻印象。”

"This was quite interesting. When someone actively tests the person who is imitating them, it is usually seen as an indication that the imitated individual is aware that there is a correspondence between their own behavior and the behavior of the other," Sauciuc said. The results were published in the journal PLOS One.

蘇奇克說(shuō)：“這很有趣。當(dāng)一個(gè)人積極地測(cè)試模仿他的人時(shí)，這通常被看作是一個(gè)跡象，表明被模仿的人意識(shí)到自己的行為和他人的行為之間存在對(duì)應(yīng)關(guān)系。”研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《公共科學(xué)圖書(shū)館·綜合》雜志上。

Playing with babies

與嬰兒一起玩

Researchers used information from 16 babies for the study. (Twelve other babies took part in the experiment but their information was excluded because they fussed too much, there was an equipment malfunction, or they were interrupted by parents, siblings, or the mail carrier.)

研究人員使用了16名嬰兒的信息進(jìn)行研究。(另外12名嬰兒參加了實(shí)驗(yàn)，但他們的信息被排除在外，因?yàn)樗麄冞^(guò)于激動(dòng)，設(shè)備故障，或被父母、兄弟姐妹或郵遞員打斷。)

The researchers found that all the babies showed signs that they realized they were being imitated. They did so by giving social signals such as smiling and increased attention to the adult who was testing them.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，所有的嬰兒都表現(xiàn)出他們意識(shí)到自己被模仿的跡象。他們這樣做是通過(guò)發(fā)出社會(huì)信號(hào)，例如微笑和增加對(duì)測(cè)試他們的成年人的關(guān)注。

Scientists have speculated that imitation is key for babies in learning about how to act with others, and sharing actions is linked with sharing feelings. But there isn't a lot of research to back up those theories.

科學(xué)家推測(cè)，模仿是嬰兒學(xué)習(xí)如何與他人相處的關(guān)鍵，分享行為與分享感受有關(guān)。但是并沒(méi)有太多的研究來(lái)支持這些理論。

"By showing that 6-month-old infants recognize when they are being imitated, and that imitation has a positive effect on interaction, we begin to fill up this gap," Sauciuc said. "We still have to find out when exactly imitation begins to have such effects, and what role imitation recognition actually plays for babies."

“通過(guò)展示6個(gè)月大的嬰兒在被模仿時(shí)的識(shí)別能力，以及模仿對(duì)互動(dòng)的積極影響，我們開(kāi)始填補(bǔ)這一空白，”蘇奇克說(shuō)。“我們還需要弄清楚模仿在什么時(shí)候開(kāi)始產(chǎn)生這樣的效果，以及模仿識(shí)別在嬰兒身上究竟起了什么作用。”