Pinkham Ashley M, Jaswal Vikram K
School of Education University of Michigan.
Department of Psychology University of Virginia.
Infancy. 2011 Sep;16(5):535-544. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00059.x. Epub 2010 Dec 3.
This experiment tested how 18-month-old infants' prior experience with an object affects their imitation. Specifically, we asked whether infants would imitate an adult who used her head to illuminate a light-box if they had earlier discovered that the light could be illuminated with their hands. In the Self-Discovery condition, infants had the opportunity to freely explore the light-box; all infants used their hands to activate the light-box at least once during this period. The experimenter then entered the room and, while providing explicit pedagogical cues, demonstrated illuminating the light-box using her forehead. In the Demonstration Only condition, infants just viewed the experimenter's demonstration. During a subsequent testing phase, infants in the Demonstration Only condition were more likely to use their foreheads to activate the light-box. Conversely, infants in the Self-Discovery condition were more likely to use their hands, suggesting that efficiency can "trump" pedagogy in some observational learning contexts.
本实验测试了18个月大婴儿对物体的先前经验如何影响他们的模仿行为。具体而言，我们询问，如果婴儿早些时候发现可以用手点亮灯箱，那么他们是否会模仿用头部点亮灯箱的成年人。在自我发现条件下，婴儿有机会自由探索灯箱；在此期间，所有婴儿至少用手激活灯箱一次。然后实验者进入房间，在提供明确的教学线索的同时，演示用额头照亮灯箱。在仅演示条件下，婴儿只是观看实验者的演示。在随后的测试阶段，仅演示条件下的婴儿更有可能用额头激活灯箱。相反，自我发现条件下的婴儿更有可能用手，这表明在某些观察学习情境中，效率可以“胜过”教学法。
