婴儿喜欢你模仿他们

婴儿喜欢你模仿他们

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.

婴儿总是笑个不停。你也会报以微笑和大笑。婴儿用他那弯曲的小拳头在桌子上猛击。你模仿他的动作，轻轻地拍着你的背。

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.

这种模仿游戏很自然。这是一种简单的方法，让父母和他们的小婴儿玩得开心。新的研究表明，婴儿不仅意识到成年人在模仿他们，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.

“模仿小婴儿似乎是一种吸引他们兴趣并与他们建立联系的有效方式。隆德大学的研究人员、研究报告的主要撰写者加布里埃尔-阿丽娜·苏奇克在一份声明中说:“这些妈妈们很惊讶地发现自己的宝宝能开心地和一个陌生人玩模仿游戏，但同时婴儿的行为也给她们留下了深刻印象。”

"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.

苏奇克说：“这很有趣。当一个人积极地测试模仿他的人时，这通常被看作是一个迹象，表明被模仿的人意识到自己的行为和他人的行为之间存在对应关系。”研究结果发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》杂志上。

Playing with babies

与婴儿一起玩

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.)

研究人员使用了16名婴儿的信息进行研究。(另外12名婴儿参加了实验，但他们的信息被排除在外，因为他们过于激动，设备故障，或被父母、兄弟姐妹或邮递员打断。)

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.

研究人员发现，所有的婴儿都表现出他们意识到自己被模仿的迹象。他们这样做是通过发出社会信号，例如微笑和增加对测试他们的成年人的关注。

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.

科学家推测，模仿是婴儿学习如何与他人相处的关键，分享行为与分享感受有关。但是并没有太多的研究来支持这些理论。

"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."

“通过展示6个月大的婴儿在被模仿时的识别能力，以及模仿对互动的积极影响，我们开始填补这一空白，”苏奇克说。“我们还需要弄清楚模仿在什么时候开始产生这样的效果，以及模仿识别在婴儿身上究竟起了什么作用。”