ORIGINAL ARTICLE Imitation from a joint action perspective Luke McEllin | Günther Knoblich | Natalie Sebanz Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Correspondence Luke McEllin, Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Oktober 6 utca 7, 1051 Budapest, Hungary. Email: mcellin_luke@phd.ceu.edu Funding information European Research Council, Grant/Award Numbers: 616072, 609819 Imitation research has focused on turn-taking contexts in which one person acts and one person then copies that action. However, people also imitate when engaging in joint actions, where two or more people coordinate their actions in space and time in order to achieve a shared goal. We discuss how the various constraints imposed by joint action modulate imitation, and the close links between perception and action that form the basis of this phenomenon. We also explore how understanding imita- tion in the context of joint action yields new insights into cultural phenomena such as teaching and innovation. KEYWORDS cultural transmission, imitation, improvisation, interpersonal coordination, joint action, teaching 1 | INTRODUCTION Imitation plays a central role in human sociality, and is ubiquitous in social interactions. It is one of the driving forces behind cultural evolution due to its importance for the sharing of cultural knowl- edge and skills (Tomasello, 1994). It features prominently in parent–child interactions (Csibra & Gergely, 2009) and cultural practices such as music and dance (Blackmore, Dugatkin, Boyd, Richerson & Plotkin, 2000) and has even been described as a “social glue” due to the various proso- cial and affiliative effects it yields (Dijksterhuis, 2005). Despite its documented importance to social- ity, the investigation of behavioural, cognitive, and neural mechanisms of imitation has largely been restricted to contexts in which one person acts and then subsequently another person copies (hence- forth referred to as “classical imitation”). Although these classical imitation contexts have been invaluable in informing our understanding of imitation, they are just a small subset of the types of social interactions that we engage in during our daily lives. Many of our interactions with others involve joint action, which can be defined in a broad way as “two or more people coordinating their actions in space and time in order to bring about a change in the environment” (Sebanz, Bekkering & Knoblich, 2006; for a discussion of other definitions and a useful minimalist definition, see Butterfill, 2016). Whether it be dancing the tango, carrying a sofa, DOI: 10.1111/mila.12188 Mind & Language. 2018;1–13. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mila © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1