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Infanoid 163To explain the origin of action capture, we assume that neonates possessamodal (or synesthetic) perception [2], in which both exteroception (of visual,tactile, etc.) and proprioception (of inner feelings produced from body posturesand movements) appear in a single space spanned by dimensions such as spatial/temporalfrequency, amplitude, and egocentric localization. This amodalperception would produce reflexive imitation, like that of facial expressionsand head rotation. Beginning with quite a rough mapping, the reflexive imitationwould get fine-tuned through social interaction (e.g., imitation play) withcaregivers.5. Being communicativeThe ability to identify with others allows one to acquire empathetic understandingof others’ intentions behind their behaviors. The robot ascribes theindirectly experienced behavior to the mental state estimated by using selfreflection.In terms of its own intentionality, self-reflection tells the robot themental state that best describes the behavior. The robot then projects this mentalstate back onto the original behavior. This is how it understands others’intentions.This empathetic understanding of others’ intentions is not only the key tohuman communication, but also the key to imitative learning. Imitation isqualitatively different from emulation; while emulation is the reproduction ofthe same result by means of a pre-existing behavioral repertoire or one’s owntrial-and-error, imitation copies the intentional use of methods for obtaininggoals [4, 9]. This ability to imitate is specific to Homo sapiens and has giventhe species the ability to share individual creations and to maintain them overgenerations, creating language and culture in the process [9].Language acquisition by individuals also relies on the empathetic understandingof others’ intentions. A symbol in language is not a label of referent,but a piece of high-potential information from which the receiver derives thesender’s intention to manifest something in the environment [8]. The robot,therefore, has to learn the use of symbols to communicate intentions throughidentifying itself with others.6. ConclusionOur ontogenetic approach to social intelligence was originally motivated bythe recent study of autism and related developmental disorders. Autism researchershave found that infants with autism have difficulty in joint attentionand bodily imitation [1, 9], as well as in pragmatic communication. This im-