Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203-5721, USA.
Cogn Sci. 2011 May-Jun;35(4):712-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01162.x. Epub 2011 Jan 5.
Three experiments, adopting an evolutionary biology perspective, investigated subjects' inferences about living things. Subjects were told that different enzymes help regulate cell function in two taxa and asked which enzyme a third taxon most likely uses. Experiment 1 and its follow-up, with college students, used triads involving amphibians, reptiles, and mammals (reptiles and mammals are most closely related evolutionarily) and plants, fungi, and animals (fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants). Experiment 2, with 10th graders, also included triads involving mammals, birds, and snakes/crocodilians (birds and snakes/crocodilians are most closely related). Some subjects received cladograms (hierarchical diagrams) depicting the evolutionary relationships among the taxa. The effect of providing cladograms depended on students' background in biology. The results illuminate students' misconceptions concerning common taxa and constraints on their willingness to override faulty knowledge when given appropriate evolutionary evidence. Implications for introducing tree thinking into biology curricula are discussed.
三个实验从进化生物学的角度出发，调查了受试者对生物的推断。实验中，先告知受试者不同的酶有助于调节两种分类群中的细胞功能，然后让他们推断第三分类群最可能使用哪种酶。实验 1 及其后续实验以大学生为对象，使用了涉及两栖动物、爬行动物和哺乳动物（爬行动物和哺乳动物在进化上最接近）以及植物、真菌和动物（真菌与动物的关系比与植物的关系更密切）的三元组。实验 2 以十年级学生为对象，还包括涉及哺乳动物、鸟类和蛇/鳄鱼（鸟类和蛇/鳄鱼在进化上最接近）的三元组。一些受试者收到了显示分类群之间进化关系的系统发育树（层次图）。提供系统发育树的效果取决于学生的生物学背景。这些结果揭示了学生对常见分类群的误解以及在给予适当的进化证据时他们克服错误知识的意愿的限制。讨论了将树思维引入生物学课程的意义。
