3 research outputs found
Infantsâ selective social learning: the impact of informantsâ knowledge states and familiarity on infantsâ reception and use of information within the second year of life
Die Aufrechterhaltung und Weiterentwicklung der menschlichen Kultur fuĂt insbesondere auf der Weitergabe und Aneignung des Wissens ĂŒber die Welt, das in Form von Informationen von
einer Menschengeneration zur nĂ€chsten ĂŒbertragen wird. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden Aspekte der ontogenetischen UrsprĂŒnge dieses sozialen Informations- und
Wissenstransfers untersucht. HierfĂŒr wurden vier Studienreihen durchgefĂŒhrt mit dem Ziel zu
untersuchen, inwiefern sich die Vertrautheit und der Wissensstand von Informanten auf das selektive soziale Lernen von Kleinkindern innerhalb ihres zweiten Lebensjahres auswirken. In
Studienreihe 1 (Studie 1a, n=137; Studie 1b, n=134) wurde ĂŒberprĂŒft, ob das Explorationsverhalten von 14-monatigen Kleinkindern von dem Wissensstand der Informanten
hinsichtlich deren lokaler Expertise beeinflusst ist. In Studienreihe 2 wurde in zwei LĂ€ngsschnittstudien (Studie 2a, n=40; Studie 2b, n=99) die selektive Nutzung des Wissensstandes von Informanten basierend auf deren visueller Perspektive in Versteckspielen
bei Kindern im Alter von 14 und 19 bzw. 20 Monaten untersucht. In Studie 3 (n=99) wurde,
ebenfalls in einem Versteckspielparadigma, die PrĂ€ferenz von Kindern im Alter von 14 und 20 Monaten fĂŒr vertraute vs. fremde Informanten im LĂ€ngsschnittdesign untersucht. In
Studienreihe 4 (Studie 4a, n =78; Studie 4b, n=78; Studie 4c, n =97) wurden unter Verwendung
der zuvor erhobenen Daten die inter-individuellen Unterschiede im sozialen Lernen der Kleinkinder in den Blick genommen. Der Fokus lag hierbei auf dem Zusammenhang zwischen der QualitĂ€t der Eltern-Kind Interaktion und dem sozialen Lernen der Kleinkinder von vertrauten und fremden Informanten. AbschlieĂend wird in der vorliegenden Dissertation ein Modell vorgestellt, welches eine Möglichkeit darstellt, die wesentlichen Ergebnisse
zusammenzufĂŒhren und zu erklĂ€ren. In diesem Modell ist die FĂ€higkeit, bei der Problemlösung
in sozialen Lernsituationen auf relevante Informationen zu fokussieren, ein zentraler Aspekt.
Die vorliegenden Studien liefern empirische Hinweise darauf, dass das Alter der Kinder und
die SensitivitĂ€t ihrer Eltern Faktoren sein könnten, welche diese FĂ€higkeit formen. Dieses Modell gilt es in der zukĂŒnftigen Forschung zu ĂŒberprĂŒfen, um dadurch zu einem noch tieferen VerstĂ€ndnis fĂŒr das soziale Lernen von Kleinkindern und ihren zugrunde liegenden Motivationen, mit denen sie bestimmte Informanten auswĂ€hlen um sich aktiv Wissen ĂŒber die
Welt anzueignen, zu gelangen.The maintenance and further development of human culture is based in particular on the transmission and acquisition of knowledge about the world via the transference of information from one human generation to the next. In this dissertation, we investigate aspects of the ontogenetic origins of this social transfer of information and knowledge. To investigate whether certain core aspects of informants, in particular their knowledge states and familiarity, impact infantsâ selective social learning, we conducted four study sets. In Study Set 1 (Study 1a, n=137; Study 1b, n=134), we investigated whether infants at 14 months of age were selective in their exploratory behavior due to informantsâ knowledge states based on the informantsâ local expertise. In Study Set 2 (Study 2a, n=40; Study 2b, n=99), which consisted of two longitudinal studies, we focused on 14- and 19/20-month-oldsâ selective use of informantsâ knowledge states based on their visual perspective in hiding-finding games. In the hiding-finding game of Study 3 (n=99), we longitudinally investigated the preferences of infants at 14 and 20 months of age for familiar vs. unfamiliar informants. In Study Set 4 (Study 4a, n =78; Study 4b, n=78; Study 4c, n =97), we focused on inter-individual differences by looking for correlations between the quality of parent-infant interaction and 14-month-oldsâ social learning from familiar and unfamiliar informants. Finally, we present a model representing a possibility to incorporate and explain our main results. A core aspect in this model is infantsâ ability to focus on relevant information when solving a problem in a social learning situation. We found empirical indications in our studies that infantsâ age and the parentsâ sensitivity might be factors shaping this ability. This model could be investigated in future research to develop a deeper understanding of infantsâ social learning behavior and their underlying motivation when selecting informants to actively acquire knowledge about the world around them
Infants' and adults' looking behavior does not indicate perceptual distraction for constrained modelled actions â an eye-tracking study
When observing a novel action, infants pay attention to the modelâs constraints when deciding whether to imitate this action or not. Gergely et al. (2002) found that more 14-month-olds copied a modelâs use of her head to operate a lamp when she used her head while her hands were free than when she had to use this means because it was the only means available to her (i.e., her hands were occupied). The perceptional distraction account (Beisert et al., 2012) claims that differences between conditions in terms of the amount of attention infants paid to the modeled action caused the differences in infantsâ performance between conditions. In order to investigate this assumption we presented 14-month-olds (N = 34) with an eye-tracking paradigm and analyzed their looking behavior when observing the head-touch demonstration in the two original conditions. Subsequently, they had the chance to operate the apparatus themselves, and we measured their imitative responses. In order to explore the perceptional processes taking place in this paradigm in adulthood, we also presented adults (N = 31) with the same task. Apart from the fact that we did not replicate the findings in imitation with our participants, the eye-tracking results do not support the perceptional distraction account: infants did not statistically differ â not even tendentially â in their amount of looking at the modeled action in both conditions. Adults also did not statistically differ in their looking at the relevant action components. However, both groups predominantly observed the relevant head action. Consequently, infants and adults do not seem to attend differently to constrained and unconstrained modelled actions