Are children more likely to copy parents at home or experimenters in the lab? Developmental changes in overimitation between 4 and 7 years of age.

= 28), nonfunctional actions were found more often in both experimental groups, with only minor differences between the experimenter/lab and the caregiver/home condition. Interestingly, OI scores remained largely constant in the caregiver/home condition but increased substantially with age in the experimenter/lab condition, suggesting that children become more sensitive to contextual factors with age. These findings are discussed in the light of theories on different motives for showing OI and their implications for future OI research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).