Imitation is ubiquitous in newborns and socially naïve individuals, yet its initial driving mechanism and the process from crude to precise imitation have long lacked a unified explanation. This paper proposes a unified framework based on the encoding rules of dopamine. We argue that the initial impetus for imitation is goal‑setting: upon observing a behavior, the individual directly encodes it as a goal worth pursuing, thereby initiating the action. Drawing on the functional division of the dopamine system, this goal‑setting process may be driven by the D1 pathway, while the reinforcement process is regulated by the D2/D3 pathway. After a successful imitation, the actual outcome exceeds the prediction, triggering dopamine release. Subsequently, the system updates the current level as the new prediction, so that the old level no longer elicits dopamine, automatically pushing the individual toward higher precision in observation and execution. In this process, the “observed higher level” is the most convenient new prediction to set (and also the most energy‑efficient), making imitation refinement a self‑driven, never‑satisfied closed loop. This framework unifies the encoding rules of dopamine, the energy‑saving nature of imitation, and the automatic drive of skill refinement under a single logic, and accordingly proposes six testable experimental predictions.
Hui Xiang (Tue,) studied this question.