Department of Psychology, University of Winchester, Winchester, Hampshire SO22 4NR, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2019 Jan;177:197-210. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.08.007. Epub 2018 Sep 12.
Taxidermied animals provide an important source of information about the natural world, but failure to understand their reality status may result in missed learning opportunities for museum visitors. This study explored 4-10-year-old children's and adults' (N = 207) reality status judgments and biological and authenticity property attributions for a taxidermied rabbit during a museum visit. The aim was to examine their understanding of its former status as a living animal and its current status as an authentic piece of natural history, under different presentation conditions: (a) as a touchable exhibit; (b) inside an exhibition case-untouchable; and (c) in an experimental context paired with a toy rabbit-both touchable. Analysis revealed that there was an increase with age both in judgments that taxidermy was real and authentic and in accuracy of biological property attributions. The toy condition resulted in more accurate reality judgments, whereas the touchable condition resulted in more accurate biological property attributions. There was no effect of age or condition on authenticity property attributions. Accuracy of biological property attributions was also associated with reality status judgments, whereby understanding the real and authentic nature of taxidermy was associated with understanding its biological status. Implications for the development of biological cognition and museum learning are discussed.
动物标本为了解自然界提供了重要的信息来源，但如果不了解其真实状态，可能会使博物馆参观者错失学习机会。本研究在博物馆参观期间，探讨了 4-10 岁儿童和成年人（N=207）对一只制成标本的兔子的真实状态判断、生物属性和真实性属性的归因，以检验他们在不同呈现条件下对其作为活体动物的先前状态和作为真实自然历史标本的当前状态的理解：（a）可触摸展品；（b）陈列柜内不可触摸；（c）在实验情境中与玩具兔子配对——两者均可触摸。分析表明，随着年龄的增长，判断标本的真实性和真实性以及生物属性归因的准确性都有所提高。玩具条件导致更准确的现实判断，而可触摸条件导致更准确的生物属性归因。年龄或条件对真实性属性归因没有影响。生物属性归因的准确性也与现实状态判断相关，即理解标本的真实和真实性与其生物状态的理解相关。讨论了这些发现对生物认知和博物馆学习发展的意义。
