Humans hardwired to learn by 'over-imitation'


	Humans hardwired to learn by 'over-imitation'

wildcat

12-6-2007 9:15 AM

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tags:

humans, hardwired, learn, 'over-imitation', behavior

2 Comments |

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12-6-2007 9:16 AM

wildcat

Watching an adult doing something wrong can make it much harder for kids to do it right.”

12-7-2007 2:20 AM

rustyroo

One of the researchers has created a really cool website with more information on this. The site will be especially interesting for parents interested in what this means for how kids think. The URL is http://www.hellofelix.com

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/db714749-abd2-493c-803c-e6cb4c5f0afe/0FD48F4E-B93D-4CE4-959F-3AA988E43FEA/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html" href="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html" style="font-size: 11px;">physorg.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/physorg.com/img/83D97554-D6C6-49D1-8167-653409716148" alt="Adult retrieves turtle from puzzle box as part of experiment that determined children over-imitate adult behavior. Credit: Yale Department of Psychology" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html">Adult retrieves turtle from puzzle box as part of experiment that determined children "over-imitate" adult behavior</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html">  
Children learn by imitating adults—so much so that they will rethink how an object works if they observe an adult taking unnecessary steps when using that object, according to a Yale study today in <I>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</I></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html"><DIV> 
“Even when you add time pressure, or warn the children not to do the unnecessary actions, they seem unable to avoid reproducing the adult’s irrelevant actions,” said Derek Lyons, doctoral candidate, developmental psychology, and first author of the study. “They have already incorporated the actions into their idea of how the object works.”
</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news116074505.html"><DIV>Learning by imitation occurs from the simplest preverbal communication to the most complex adult expertise. It is the basis for much of our success as a species, but the benefits are less clear in instances of “over-imitation,” where children copy behavior that is not needed, Lyons said.
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