On modeling proto-imitation in a pre-associative babel

Abstract

In this paper we present a model of generative proto-imitation that replicates external signals without associating with objects, as in higher-level imitation. A mixed population of adults, that have fixed associations objects-signals, and infants, that do not have associations but imitate unconditionally, endowed with a kinship and interaction structure, allows infants to develop signal affinity with their kin in a variety of conditions and within an initial random world, i.e. in a Babel. Our results indicate that the communicative value of imitation can be discovered after the basic apparatus is in place, rather than that communication is the end to which imitation is the means. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.