▁im itation . ▁Both ▁mon keys ▁learned ▁new ▁sequences ▁more ▁rapidly ▁after ▁obser ving ▁an ▁expert ▁execute ▁those ▁sequences ▁than ▁when ▁they ▁had ▁to ▁learn ▁new ▁sequences ▁entirely ▁by ▁trial ▁and ▁error . ▁A ▁m irc ro - analysis ▁of ▁each ▁mon keys ' ▁performance ▁showed ▁that ▁each ▁mon key ▁learned ▁the ▁order ▁of ▁two ▁of ▁the ▁four ▁photograph s ▁faster ▁than ▁bas eline ▁levels . ▁A ▁second ▁experiment ▁ruled ▁out ▁social ▁facil itation ▁as ▁an ▁explanation ▁for ▁this ▁result . ▁A ▁third ▁experiment , ▁however , ▁demonstrated ▁that ▁mon keys ▁did ▁not ▁learn ▁when ▁the ▁computer ▁highlight ed ▁each ▁picture ▁in ▁the ▁correct ▁sequence ▁in ▁the ▁absence ▁of ▁a ▁mon key ▁(" g host ▁control "). ▁ ▁Dis soci ating ▁cogn itive ▁and ▁motor - sp atial ▁im itation ▁ ▁Sub ia ul ▁and ▁colle agues , ▁using ▁two ▁computer ized ▁tasks ▁that ▁measure ▁the ▁learning ▁of ▁two ▁abstract ▁rules : ▁cogn itive — item - based — rules ▁( e . g ., ▁apple - boy - cat ; ) ▁and ▁motor - sp atial - based ▁rules ▁( e . g ., ▁up - down - right ) ▁have ▁shown ▁that ▁there ▁are ▁important ▁dis soci ations ▁between ▁the ▁im itation ▁of ▁these ▁two ▁types ▁of ▁rules . ▁Specifically , ▁results ▁have ▁shown ▁that ▁while ▁ 3 - year - olds ▁successfully ▁im itate ▁item - specific ▁rules ▁( i . e ., ▁cogn itive ▁im itation ), ▁these ▁same ▁ 3 - year - olds ▁fail ▁to ▁im itate