Want S C, Harris P L
University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Child Dev. 2001 Mar-Apr;72(2):431-43. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00288.
Despite considerable debate about whether nonhuman primates learn to use tools via imitation, this type of learning by children has received surprisingly little attention. The findings of two studies that go some way toward filling this gap are reported here. Study 1 showed that when 2- and 3-year-old children (N = 68) were shown a correct solution to a tool-using task (which they could not solve spontaneously), all the children in both age groups managed at least a partial solution. When children were shown an incorrect solution followed by a correct solution, 2-year-olds again produced only a partial solution. By contrast, most 3-year-olds produced a full solution. Study 2 replicated this age change in a separate sample of children (N = 100) with a different tool-using task. Study 2 also showed that 3-year-olds benefit from observing an incorrect action when it can be contrasted with a correct action: they chose the more effective of the two actions. Taken together, the two studies indicate that by 3 years of age, children do not indiscriminately imitate actions on a tool, but selectively reproduce those actions that have a desired causal effect.
尽管关于非人类灵长类动物是否通过模仿来学习使用工具存在大量争论，但儿童的这种学习方式却出人意料地很少受到关注。本文报道了两项研究的结果，这两项研究在一定程度上填补了这一空白。研究1表明，当向2岁和3岁的儿童（N = 68）展示一个工具使用任务的正确解决方案（他们自己无法自发解决）时，两个年龄组的所有儿童都至少想出了部分解决方案。当向儿童展示一个错误的解决方案后再展示正确的解决方案时，2岁的儿童再次只想出了部分解决方案。相比之下，大多数3岁的儿童想出了完整的解决方案。研究2在另一组不同工具使用任务的儿童样本（N = 100）中重复了这一年龄变化。研究2还表明，当3岁的儿童能够将一个错误动作与正确动作进行对比时，他们会从观察错误动作中受益：他们会选择两种动作中更有效的那种。综合来看，这两项研究表明，到3岁时，儿童不会不加区分地模仿使用工具的动作，而是会选择性地再现那些具有预期因果效应的动作。
