Meyer Marlene, van der Wel Robrecht P R D, Hunnius Sabine
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2016 May 5;371(1693). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0371.
The planning and adjusting of one's actions in relation to an action partner is fundamental to smooth joint action. During their first years of life, children gradually become more engaged in joint actions. Here, we investigated whether and at what age children take their partner into account in their action plans to accommodate the other's actions. We focused on children's proactive planning (without prior experience) and flexible adjustment of action plans over time. In a behavioural study, we tested 96 children from four age groups (2½, 3, 3½ and 5 years) in a joint cup-stacking task. Children passed cups to their partner who had only one hand available (alternating over time) to build a tower. Children's response choices were assessed (i.e. passing the cup on the free or occupied side to their partner). The study yielded two major findings. At all ages, children proactively planned their actions in a way that accommodated their partner's actions. However, only by 3½ years did children start to flexibly integrate their partner into their action plans. Even at age 5, children only showed minimal adjustments to their action partner. Candidate processes underlying these developmental changes (e.g. inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, perspective taking) are discussed.
根据行动伙伴来规划和调整自身行动，是实现顺畅联合行动的根本。在生命的最初几年里，儿童逐渐更多地参与到联合行动中。在此，我们研究了儿童是否以及在什么年龄会在行动计划中考虑伙伴因素，以配合对方的行动。我们重点关注儿童的主动规划（无先前经验）以及随着时间推移对行动计划的灵活调整。在一项行为研究中，我们在联合叠杯任务中测试了来自四个年龄组（2.5岁、3岁、3.5岁和5岁）的96名儿童。儿童将杯子递给只有一只手可用（随时间交替）的伙伴以搭建一座塔。评估儿童的反应选择（即把杯子递给伙伴空着的那一侧还是被占用的那一侧）。该研究得出了两个主要发现。在所有年龄段，儿童都会以配合伙伴行动的方式主动规划自己的行动。然而，儿童直到3.5岁才开始将伙伴灵活地纳入到他们的行动计划中。即使到了5岁，儿童对行动伙伴的调整也微乎其微。我们还讨论了这些发展变化背后的潜在过程（例如抑制控制、认知灵活性、换位思考）。
