A COMPARISON OF IMITATION STRATEGIES IN OBSERVATIONAL-LEARNING OF ACTION PATTERNS

The effects of different arrangements of demonstration and imitation o f modeled actions on the learning of the 26 handshapes of the American manual alphabet were investigated. A concurrent group (N = 16), which imitated handshapes concurrently with their demonstration, was compar ed with a delayed group (N = 16), which delayed imitation until 3 hand shapes had been displayed, and with a combination group (N = 16), whic h practiced under a combination of concurrent conditions early in acqu isition and delayed conditions later in acquisition. Following acquisi tion, learning was assessed by means of immediate and long-term recall and recognition tests. The delayed group was superior to the concurre nt group in long-term serial recall and in immediate and long-term rec ognition of 3-letter sequences (in nonserial order); the performance o f the combination group was between those of the delayed and concurren t groups. Therefore, delaying imitation in acquisition required subjec ts to expend more cognitive effort to retain and produce handshapes wh en requested than did concurrent imitation. This was beneficial to dev elopment of task knowledge that could be relied on for postacquisition recall and recognition of handshapes.