Young children with autism spectrum disorders imitate in the context of others' prior intention.

Many studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorder have some understanding of intentions behind others' goal-directed actions on objects. It is not clear whether they understand intentions at a high level of abstraction reliant on the context in which the actions occur. This study tested their understanding of others' prior intentions with typically developing and developmentally delayed children.

Outcome-based observational learning in human infants.

Previous work shows that infants manifest emulation learning in the use of end-state information. Outcome-based emulation has been interpreted as affordance learning or goal attribution. The present paper explores whether these two learning possibilities might be related.

Gradations of emulation learning in infants' imitation of actions on objects.

This study explored different gradations of emulation in the imitation of actions on objects by 17-month-olds. Experiment 1 established levels of behavioral reproduction following prerecorded video demonstrations similar to those levels following live demonstrations. In Experiment 2, two digitally modified videos, where object movements or body movements critical to producing the target action were highlighted in isolation, were developed.

Infants' behavioral reenactment of "failed attempts": exploring the roles of emulation learning, stimulus enhancement, and understanding of intentions.

Two studies were conducted to examine whether infants' reenactment of intended but unconsummated acts in A. N. Meltzoff's (1995) failed-attempt paradigm is due to reading the adult's underlying intention or to the effects of nonimitative social learning processes.