Do humans imitate from birth? 

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 donot imitate was reinvigorated in recent years by research from UQ’s Early Cognitive Development Centre.  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 recent 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.