Mirror self-image reactions before age two

“A key step in cognitive development involves learning to distinguish the self from other humans, and presumably from nonhuman agents as well (e.g., Amsterdam, 1972; Flavell, 1973; Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1994; Piaget, 1929, 1932, 1962, 1969; Piaget & Inhelder, 1948).”

“…and Yakovlev and Lecours (1967); g, Huttenlocher (1979) and Petanjek et al. (2011) ; t, Zahn-Waxler et al. (1992); u, Meltzoff and Moore (1977); v, Amsterdam (1972) and Butterworth (1990); w, Harris (2000); x, Dumontheil (2014); y, Rajan et al. (2014); z, Catts et al. (2013) and Heaton et al.…”

“Amsterdam (30) found that infants from 6 through 12 months of age demonstrate prolonged and repeated reaction to their mirror images as a sociable playmate.”

“Amsterdam (1972), Dixon (1957), and Schulman and Kaplowitz (1977) all reported instances of self-conscious behavior in young children viewing themselves in mirrors.”

“Prior to the second year, an infant placed in front of a mirror will typically smile, coo, and explore in apparent delight of the perfect contingency between acted and seen movements bouncing back at them from the polished surface of the mirror (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“During this period, self-recognition and self-other differentiation develop (e.g., Amsterdam, 1972; Bertenthal & Fischer, 1978; Lewis, Snllivan, Stanger, & Weiss, 1989; Watson & Fisher, 1977).”

“…emotions (e.g., embarrassment; Lewis, 1993, 1995; Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, & Weiss, 1989), the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972; Bard, Todd, Bernier, Love, & Leavens, 2006; Harley & Reese, 1999; D. B. Johnson, 1983), and using first-person pronouns and pretend…”

“It has since been demonstrated that infants around 2 years of age begin to show behavior indicative of self-recognition in front of a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972), a developmental period which coincides with the onset of the use of the personal pronouns bIQ and bmeQ (Preyer, 1889).”

“…vision (Courage and Adams 1990) and body manipulation, but also a number of higher-order cognitive functions such as spatial attention (Haith et al. 1988; Johnson et al. 1991), working memory (Diamond and Goldman-Rakic 1989; Reznick et al. 2004; Reznick 2007), and self-awareness (Amsterdam 1972).”

“their reflection (Amsterdam, 1972); and, perhaps most importantly, that infants are”

“The beginning of this transition to developing this dual understanding of self starts around the end of the first year of life (9–14 months) (Amsterdam, 1972; Scaife and Bruner, 1975) and continues well on into the second year of life (Kagan, 1981).”

“2008), social awareness (Amsterdam 1972; Field 1979), and other higher-order brain functions (Posner and Rothbart 1998; Rothbart 1990) during this period.”

“Researchers administered a version of the classic mark test (Amsterdam, 1972; Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979) in which they wiped blue face paint on the child’s nose with a tissue and then 2 min later placed the child 50 cm in front of a 40 60 cm mirror.”

“In humans MSR emerges reliably at approximately eighteen to twenty months of age [Amsterdam, 1972] and marks the beginning of a developmental process of achieving increasingly abstract psychological levels of self-awareness and awareness of others, including introspection and mental state attribution [Piaget, 1952].”

“This finding is consistent with the rapid emergence of self-awareness during the first year of life (Amsterdam 1972) and suggests that the development of theory-of-mind-related functions associated with DMN likely serves as a foundation for other higher order functions to build on.”

“By the time children objectify themselves in mirrors passing the famous mark test (Amsterdam 1972), they also begin to express secondary emotions such as embarrassment, shame, or pride (Lewis 1992).”

“Self-recognition was assessed with the standard procedure (i.e. the rouge test; Amsterdam, 1972; Bischof-Köhler, 1989).”

“Amsterdam (1972) reported that, between 3 and 12 months, the majority of infants spend time observing their own movement in the mirror, exploring the particular visual-proprioceptive correspondence offered by the mirror's reflection.”

“…show signs of discriminating between self and others (Rochat and Striano, 2002), whereas the ability to recognize oneself in front of a mirror typically emerges around 2 years of age (Amsterdam, 1972), coinciding with the onset of the use of self-referential pronouns (‘I’ and ‘me’) (Preyer, 1889).”

“Consistently, self-awareness and selfprojection, lying at the core of default mode functions, have been observed to emerge 1 year of age (Amsterdam, 1972; Herschkowitz, 2000).”

“…age-dependent performance is similar to the one reported for chimpanzees in the mirror self-recognition (MSR) task (Povinelli et al. 1993), a task typically used to assess the development of self-concept in human infants (Amsterdam 1972; Lewis and Brooks-Gunn 1979; Nielsen and Dissanayake 2004).”

“An infant usually starts to show evidence of self-recognition in a mirror in the second year of life (Amsterdam, 1972; Bigelow, 1981; Schulman and Kaplowitz, 1977; for a review, see Anderson, 1984).”

“Concerning the onset of self-recognition in human infants, there is general agreement that the evidence becomes clear at around 16–24 months of age (Amsterdam 1972; Anderson 1984; Nielsen and Dissanayake 2004).”

“The rouge test is the standard procedure for assessing MSR, whereby a red mark is surreptitiously placed on the individual’s face before the individual sees him- or herself in a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972; Gallup, 1970).”

“organization, consistent with the concurrent emergence of the corresponding cognitive functions (Amsterdam 1972; Fivush and Hamond 1990).”

“For example, humans before age of 2 years show the capacity of mirror self-recognition (Amsterdam, 1972; Asendorpf, Warkentin, & Baudonniere, 1996; Keenan, Gallup, & Falk, 2003).”

“In Stern's account, the growth of selfconsciousness is linked with the changes in the child's self-directed behavior in front of a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972; Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979), with the use of names and pronouns to designate the self, with the establishment of core gender identity, and with…”

“We argue that a major aim of future research in the field should be to identify more clearly the cognitive operations induced by the perception of the self-face, and search for dissociations between neural correlates and cognitive components.”

“This capacity is distinct from on-line self-representation, as demonstrated by the ability of 18–24-month-old infants to detect a covertly placed mark or sticker on their head upon looking in a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“For example, Amsterdam (1972) found that 85% of infants between 6 and 12 months responded to their mirror image as a sociable playmate, smiling at and making playful approaches to the ‘other child’ while vocalizing delight and enthusiasm.”

“The first 45 children were tested with the classic procedure proposed by Amsterdam (1972). A female experimenter involved the children in warm-up play in front of a mirror, making sure that the children visually fixated the mirror image of their face at least three times.”

“recognition in the mirror have demonstrated that this capacity is one of the early precursors in the ontogenetic sequence of selfawareness in both infants and primates (Amsterdam, 1972; Bertenthal & Fischer, 1978; Dixon, 1957; Gallup, 1977; Lewis & Brooks, 1978).”

“The ecological self develops as infants interact with physical objects and also as they perceive their own body directly via self-exploration (Amsterdam, 1972; Rochat & Morgan, 1995; Rochat, 1998).”

“Earlier research documented that the development of the self and selfawareness is reflected in the ability of 2-yearolds to recognize their own visual image in a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“Recognising one’s own body For many, the litmus test of bodily selfawareness is the mirror self recognition task (e.g., Amsterdam, 1972).”

“The ability to recognize one’s mirror reflection indexes possession of cognitive processes underlying self-awareness (Gallup, 1970; Keenan, Gallup, & Galk, 2003) and has been observed in chimpanzees (Gallup, 1970) and infants (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“Much work in child development focuses upon this process whereby children learn to use the mirror image to manipulate aspects of their own appearance (e.g. Amsterdam, 1971).”

“Since the early seventies, the principal tool for assessing mirror self-recognition in preverbal individuals is what is often referred to as the ‘mark test’ (Amsterdam, 1972; Gallup, 1970).”

“The mark test of mirror self-recognition (Amsterdam, 1972; Gallup, 1970) is probably the most commonly used test of higher-order self-awareness.”

“The prototypical indicator is mirror self-recognition, in which the child recognizes himself as an identifiable individual and the mirror image as an objective representation of self separate from the actual physical self (Amsterdam 1972).”

“When looking at their specular image, they become aware that some rouge has surreptitiously been brought on their nose or forehead and reach for it on their face (Amsterdam 1977; Rochat 1995).”

“By approximately 2 years of age, normal infants are able to distinguish between themselves and others, as evidenced by their ability to recognize themselves as a distinct person in a mirror ( Amsterdam, 1972; Bertenthal & Fischer, 1978; Dixon, 1957; Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979; Papou~ek & Papou~ek, 1974; Schulman & Kapl…”

“Mirror self-recognition is present early in human development as most infants learn to identify their reflection at around 18 months of age [77].”

“The toddlers’ self-referential behaviour in front of the mirror after rouge has been put on their faces (the classical rouge test) can be taken as evidence for the acquisition of a conceptual selfknowledge (Amsterdam, 1972; Bischof-Köhler, 1991; Gallup, 1977).”

“In humans, MSR starts by around 18 months of age (Amsterdam, 1972) and has been shown to coincide with the beginning of other-directed and appropriate prosocial behavior (Bischof-Köhler, 1991; Zahn-Waxler et al., 1992a).”

“Typically developing infants around two years of age begin to show behavior indicating that they recognize themselves in front of a mirror (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“Amsterdam (1972) assumed that MSR ability indicated that infants associate the face in the mirror with their own face, and Gallup assumed that MSR indicates self-identity: “The capacity to correctly infer the identity of the reflection presupposes an identity on the part of the organism making that…”

“Humans beyond the age of 2 years of age generally pass this test (Amsterdam, 1972), as do chimpanzees (Gallop, 1970), bottlenose dolphins (Reiss and Marino, 2001), Asian elephants (Plotnik et al., 2006), and magpies (Prior et al., 2008).”

“They manifest positive affect, including smiling, cooing, reaching for the part of the body reflected in the mirror, and often demonstrating sudden bursts of joyful activities (Amsterdam, 1972).”

“Self-face recognition is evidenced by typically developing children around 2 years of age [27].”