Overimitation: copying causally irrelevant actions in goal-directed action sequence. Example: When showing a child how to open a box, wave a stick over the top three times.

What does Overimitation mean in psychology?

The findings suggest that overimitation—in which a child copies everything an adult does, even irrelevant or silly actions—is a universal human trait that may contribute to our complex culture. Researchers already knew that overimitation was a human-specific quirk.

What does over-imitation mean?

Defining Over-Imitation

We define over-imitation (henceforth 'OI') as imitation of perceivably causally unnecessary actions in relation to the goal of an action sequence performed by a model. An action is defined as a deliberate and goal-directed behavior.