The Mirror System, Imitation, and the Evolution of Language

Abstract

A dance class in Santa Fe, Sept. 25, 1999: The percussion is insistent. Dancers move in rows from the back of the hall towards the drummers at the front. From time to time, the mistress of the dance breaks the flow, and twice repeats a sequence of energetic dance moves. The dancers then move forward again, repeating her moves, more or less. Some do it well, others not so well. Imitation involves, in part, seeing the instructor's dance as set of familiar movements of shoulders, arms, hands, belly and legs. Many constituents are variants of familiar actions, rather than familiar actions themselves. Thus one must not only observe actions and their composition, but also novelties in the constituents and their variations. One must also perceive the overlapping and sequencing of all these moves and then remember the “coordinated control program” so constructed Probably, memory and perception are intertwined. As the dancers perform they both act out the recalled coordinated control program and tune it. By observing other dancers and synchronizing with their neighbors and the insistent percussion of the drummers, they achieve a collective representation that tunes their own, possibly departing from the instructor's original. At the same time, some dancers seem more or less skilled – some will omit a movement, or simplify it, others may replace it with their imagined equivalent. (One example: the instructor alternates touching her breast and moving her arm outwards. Most dancers move their arms in and out with no particular target.) Other changes are matters of motor rather than perceptual or mnemonic skill – not everyone can lean back as far as the instructor without losing balance. These are the ingredients of imitation.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Southern California US

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