Simpson Elizabeth A, Miller Grace M, Ferrari Pier F, Suomi Stephen J, Paukner Annika
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA.
Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2016 Feb 1;6:20233. doi: 10.1038/srep20233.
Individuals vary in their social skills and motivation, the causes of which remain largely unknown. Here we investigated whether an individual's propensity to interact with others measured within days after birth, and differences in infants' early social environment, may predict a later social skill. Specifically, we tested whether neonatal imitation--newborns' capacity to match modelled actions--and social experience in the first months of life predict gaze following (directing attention to locations where others look), in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta; n = 119). Facial gesture imitation in the first week of life predicted gaze following at 7 months of age. Imitators were better at gaze following than non-imitators, suggesting neonatal imitation may be an early marker predicting socio-cognitive functioning. In addition, infants with rich social environments outperformed infants with less socialization, suggesting early social experiences also support the development of infants' gaze following competence. The present study offers compelling evidence that an individual difference present from birth predicts a functional social cognitive skill in later infancy. In addition, this foundational skill--gaze following--is plastic, and can be improved through social interactions, providing infants with a strong foundation for later social interaction and learning.
个体在社交技能和动机方面存在差异，其原因在很大程度上仍不为人知。在此，我们研究了个体出生后数天内测量的与他人互动的倾向，以及婴儿早期社会环境的差异，是否能够预测其后期的社交技能。具体而言，我们测试了新生儿模仿——新生儿匹配示范动作的能力——以及生命最初几个月的社交经历，是否能预测猕猴幼崽（猕猴属；n = 119）的目光追随（将注意力指向他人注视的位置）。出生后第一周的面部手势模仿可预测7个月大时的目光追随。模仿者在目光追随后表现优于非模仿者，这表明新生儿模仿可能是预测社会认知功能的早期指标。此外，拥有丰富社会环境的婴儿比社交较少的婴儿表现更好，这表明早期社会经历也有助于婴儿目光追随能力的发展。本研究提供了令人信服的证据，表明出生时就存在的个体差异可预测婴儿后期的功能性社会认知技能。此外，这种基础技能——目光追随——具有可塑性，可通过社交互动得到改善，为婴儿后期的社交互动和学习奠定坚实基础。
