Imagination in motion: Pretense representation as perceptual simulation

The current study examined the role of motor and visual perceptual input for 20 and 28-month-old toddlers' emergent pretend play representations. Action was hypothesized to guide and support toddlers' representations in pretend play. Ninety-seven toddlers aged 20 and 28 months were tested on a task adapted from Tomasello, Striano & Rochat (1999) in which they fed a stuffed worm pretend replica and substitute toys. Both motor and visual perceptual inputs were manipulated. Motor input played a significant role depending on the type of pretend play toy. With replica toys, motor perceptual input had little effect on toddlers' ability to comprehend and reproduce play with replica toys. However, with substitute toys, which are visually dissimilar from their referents, toddlers comprehended the task only when they had a combination of motor input from their own and others' actions. Findings are discussed in terms of common coding theory and DeLoache's dual representation model. A modification of the paradigm is also proposed.