Juan was working on his laptop one day and his 18-month-old daughter was sitting on his lap. A week later, when he was working on his laptop again, his daughter reached out from his lap and started pressing the keys of the laptop. In this scenario, Juan’s daughter is displaying________.

Question

a. object permanence
b. a primary circular reaction
c. echolalia
d. deferred imitation

Answer 1

In this scenario, Juan’s daughter is displaying d. deferred imitation.

Deferred imitation refers to the ability to remember and replicate an action that was observed at an earlier time. In this case, the daughter remembers that when she reached out to the laptop last time, it produced a reaction, and she mimics that behavior after having observed it earlier.