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Dr Rohan Kapitany's Outputs (3)

Examining memory for ritualized gesture in complex causal sequences (2018)
Journal Article
Kapitány, R., Kavanagh, C., Whitehouse, H., & Nielsen, M. (2018). Examining memory for ritualized gesture in complex causal sequences. Cognition, 181, 46-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.005

Humans have created and maintained an exponentially large and sophisticated behavioral corpus over evolutionary time. In no small part this was achieved due to our tendency to imitate behaviours rather than to emulate outcomes. This tendency, however... Read More about Examining memory for ritualized gesture in complex causal sequences.

An experimental examination of object-directed ritualized action in children across two cultures (2018)
Journal Article
Kapitány, R., Davis, J. T., Legare, C., & Nielsen, M. (2018). An experimental examination of object-directed ritualized action in children across two cultures. PLoS ONE, 13(11), Article e0206884. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206884

Ritualized actions are common in daily life, and prevalent across cultures. Adults have been shown, under experimental conditions, to treat objects subjected to ritualized action as special and different relative to objects subjected to non-ritualize... Read More about An experimental examination of object-directed ritualized action in children across two cultures.

The influence of goal demotion on children's reproduction of ritual behavior (2018)
Journal Article
Nielsen, M., Tomaselli, K., & Kapitány, R. (2018). The influence of goal demotion on children's reproduction of ritual behavior. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(3), 343-348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.02.006

Rituals are a ubiquitous feature of human behavior, yet we know little about the cognitive mechanisms that enable children to recognize them and respond accordingly. In this study, 3 to 6 year old children living in Bushman communities in South Afric... Read More about The influence of goal demotion on children's reproduction of ritual behavior.