The Influence of Visually Dangerous Information on Imitation in Children

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that when perceiving the actions of another agent, individuals will automatically imitate those observed actions. This study investigated how children’s imitation of physical actions was influenced by either visually neutral or visually dangerous information. Participants were presented with a series of pictures in which an agent was reaching towards either a neutral object or a dangerous object. Results showed that the imitation effect occurred when the agent was observed reaching and grasping a neutral object. However, this effect was not present when the agent’s hand was observed reaching towards or grasping, the non-handle side of a dangerous object. These results suggest children can predict potential behavioral consequences and adjust their imitative action depending on the perceived danger of the action.

Keywords:

• imitation
• object affordance
• children

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the grant from Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (17XJC190011), Shaanxi philosophy and Social Sciences fund (2017P016), and Scientific Research Project of Shaanxi Education Department (19JK0033).