Behavioral and Brain Sciences



Open Peer Commentary
Byrne & Russon: Learning by imitation

Priming primates: Human and otherwise


Mark Chen a1, Tanya L. Chartrand a1, Annette Y. Lee-Chai a1 and John A. Bargh a1
a1 Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003-6634 markc@xp.psych.nyu.edu tanyac@xp.psych.nyu.edu annette@xp.psych.nyu.edu bargh@xp.psych.nyu.edu

Abstract

The radical nub of Byrne & Russon's argument is that passive priming effects can produce much of the evidence of higher-order cognition in nonhuman primates. In support of their position we review evidence of similar behavioral priming effects n humans. However, that evidence further suggests that even program-level imitative behavior can be produced through priming.