Humans Appear Hardwired To Learn By 'Over-Imitation' ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2007) — Children learn by imitating adults--so much so that they will rethink how an object works if they observe an adult taking unnecessary steps when using that object, according to a new Yale study.Adult retrieves turtle from puzzle box as part of experiment that determined children "over-imitate" adult behavior. (Credit: Yale Department of Psychology) "Even when you add time pressure, or warn the children not to do the unnecessary actions, they seem unable to avoid reproducing the adult's irrelevant actions," said Derek Lyons, doctoral candidate, developmental psychology, and first...