Watch and Learn? Infants Privilege Efficiency Over Pedagogy During Imitative Learning

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
Ashley M Pinkham, Vikram K Jaswal

Abstract

This experiment tested how 18-month-old infants' prior experience with an object affects their imitation. Specifically, we asked whether infants would imitate an adult who used her head to illuminate a light-box if they had earlier discovered that the light could be illuminated with their hands. In the Self-Discovery condition, infants had the opportunity to freely explore the light-box; all infants used their hands to activate the light-box at least once during this period. The experimenter then entered the room and, while providing explicit pedagogical cues, demonstrated illuminating the light-box using her forehead. In the Demonstration Only condition, infants just viewed the experimenter's demonstration. During a subsequent testing phase, infants in the Demonstration Only condition were more likely to use their foreheads to activate the light-box. Conversely, infants in the Self-Discovery condition were more likely to use their hands, suggesting that efficiency can "trump" pedagogy in some observational learning contexts.

References

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Citations

Mar 20, 2016·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Cecilia Heyes
Mar 16, 2017·Child Development·David M Sobel, Susan M Letourneau
Sep 24, 2015·Annual Review of Psychology·Renée BaillargeonLin Bian
Mar 2, 2016·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Emma FlynnLuc-Alain Giraldeau
Nov 7, 2017·Cognition·Zoe LibermanAmanda L Woodward

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