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.

嬰兒總是笑個不停。你也會報以微笑和大笑。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。這是一種簡單的方法，讓父母和他們的小嬰兒玩得開心。新的研究表明，嬰兒不僅意識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。隆德大學的研究人員、研究報告的主要撰寫者加布里埃爾-阿麗娜·蘇奇克在一份聲明中說:“這些媽媽們很驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的寶寶能開心地和一個陌生人玩模仿游戲，但同時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：“這很有趣。當一個人積極地測試模仿他的人時，這通常被看作是一個跡象，表明被模仿的人意識到自己的行為和他人的行為之間存在對應關系。”研究結果發(fā)表在《公共科學圖書館·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名嬰兒的信息進行研究。(另外12名嬰兒參加了實驗，但他們的信息被排除在外，因為他們過于激動，設備故障，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)出他們意識到自己被模仿的跡象。他們這樣做是通過發(fā)出社會信號，例如微笑和增加對測試他們的成年人的關注。

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.

科學家推測，模仿是嬰兒學習如何與他人相處的關鍵，分享行為與分享感受有關。但是并沒有太多的研究來支持這些理論。

"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."

“通過展示6個月大的嬰兒在被模仿時的識別能力，以及模仿對互動的積極影響，我們開始填補這一空白，”蘇奇克說。“我們還需要弄清楚模仿在什么時候開始產(chǎn)生這樣的效果，以及模仿識別在嬰兒身上究竟起了什么作用。”