Infants Learn Recall Early, Study Finds

Infants as young as 6 months can not only imitate actions, but remember them 24 hours later, provided the circumstances are exactly the same, a university study found.

Using puppets and toys, researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand were able to induce 6-, 12- and 18-month-old babies to mimic actions they had seen a day earlier, says the study, reported Tuesday at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

Although previous research has found that babies as young as 6 weeks can imitate facial expressions or simple tasks, the new results show that infants as young as 6 months are capable of remembering and aping specific actions.

In one test, the New Zealand researchers used a hand puppet outfitted with a bell tucked inside its mitten. As the babies watched, an adult would pull the mitten off, jingle the bell and then put the mitten back on the puppet’s hand.

Offered the same puppet 24 hours later, even the youngest babies would pull off the mitten and ring the bell--if they were in the same place and with the same people.