Psychology Colloquium: Prof Virginia Slaughter (UQ)

Prof Virginia Slaughter (UQ)Title: Do humans imitate from birth?
Abstract: Imitation in human newborns is widely cited as evidence of an inborn Mirror Neuron System that underpins human social behaviour, even though its existence has been debated for decades. The possibility that newborns do not imitate was reinvigorated in recent years by research from our lab at the University of Queensland.  In this talk I will present original data from the largest-ever longitudinal study of newborn imitation and the first-ever meta-analysis.  I will also discuss findings from infant EMG experiments which further challenge the claim that newborn humans can imitate.  All of this leads to alternative accounts of the development of imitation and its role in human sociality.
Bio: Virginia Slaughter is Professor of Psychology and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on social and cognitive development in infants and young children, with particular emphasis on social behaviour in infancy, theory-of-mind development and the acquisition of peer interaction skills. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.