Barrett Tracy M, Davis Evan F, Needham Amy
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0086, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2007 Mar;43(2):352-68. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.352.
These experiments explored the role of prior experience in 12- to 18-month-old infants' tool-directed actions. In Experiment 1, infants' use of a familiar tool (spoon) to accomplish a novel task (turning on lights inside a box) was examined. Infants tended to grasp the spoon by its handle even when doing so made solving the task impossible (the bowl did not fit through the hole in the box, but the handle did) and even though the experimenter demonstrated a bowl-grasp. In contrast, infants used a novel tool flexibly and grasped both sides equally often. In Experiment 2, infants received training using the novel tool for a particular function; 3 groups of infants were trained to use the tool differently. Later, infants' performance was facilitated on tasks that required infants to grasp the part of the tool they were trained to grasp. The results suggest that (a) infants' prior experiences with tools are important to understanding subsequent tool use, and (b) rather than learning about tool function (e.g., hammering), infants learn about which part of the tool is meant to be held, at least early in their exposure to a novel tool.
这些实验探究了先前经验在12至18个月大婴儿的工具导向行为中的作用。在实验1中，研究了婴儿使用熟悉的工具（勺子）来完成一项新任务（打开盒子里的灯）的情况。即使这样做无法完成任务（碗无法穿过盒子上的洞，但把手可以），而且实验者展示了用碗来抓握的方式，婴儿们仍倾向于抓住勺子的把手。相比之下，婴儿们能灵活使用新工具，并且同等频繁地抓住工具的两侧。在实验2中，婴儿们接受了针对特定功能使用新工具的训练；三组婴儿接受了不同方式的工具使用训练。后来，在要求婴儿抓住他们接受过训练的工具部分的任务中，婴儿们的表现得到了促进。结果表明：（a）婴儿先前使用工具的经验对于理解后续的工具使用很重要；（b）至少在刚开始接触新工具时，婴儿们学到的不是工具的功能（例如锤击），而是工具的哪一部分应该被握住。
