▁motor - sp atial ▁rules ▁( i . e ., ▁motor - sp atial ▁im itation ). ▁This ▁dis soci ation ▁isn ' t ▁because ▁there ' s ▁something ▁inher ently ▁harder ▁about ▁learning ▁spatial ▁versus ▁cogn itive ▁rules . ▁Follow - up ▁studies ▁have ▁shown ▁that ▁ 3 - year ▁old s ▁easily ▁learn ▁new ▁spatial ▁rules ▁by ▁trial ▁and ▁error , ▁correctly ▁recall ing ▁such ▁rules ▁after ▁a ▁ 3 0 s ▁delay , ▁( Exp . ▁ 2 ). ▁This ▁result ▁ex cludes ▁the ▁possibility ▁that ▁ 3 - year ▁old s ' ▁motor - sp atial ▁im itation ▁problems ▁are ▁due ▁to ▁difficulty ▁learning ▁( i . e ., ▁encoding ▁and ▁recall ing ) ▁novel ▁spatial ▁rules ▁in ▁general . ▁In ▁another ▁study , ▁ 3 - year ▁old s ▁observed ▁a ▁model ▁correctly ▁touch ▁the ▁first ▁item ▁( e . g ., ▁Top ▁Right ) ▁in ▁the ▁sequence , ▁but ▁then ▁skip ▁the ▁middle ▁item ▁( e . g ., ▁Top ▁Left ▁picture ) ▁and , ▁instead , ▁touch ▁the ▁last ▁item ▁in ▁the ▁sequence ▁( e . g ., ▁B ottom ▁Left ▁picture ), ▁resulting ▁in ▁an ▁error , ▁marked ▁as ▁un intent ional ▁by ▁the ▁model ▁who ▁said , ▁" Who ops ! ▁That ' s ▁not ▁right ! ". ▁This ▁is ▁a ▁goal ▁em ulation ▁learning ▁condition , ▁as ▁the ▁child ▁had ▁to ▁copy ▁the ▁model ' s ▁intended ▁goal ▁( Top - Right , ▁B ottom - Left , ▁Top - Left ), ▁rather