1-192 - Comparing the Effects of Active and Passive Learning Experiences Through Action and Gesture

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Foundational theories of cognitive development posit that early learning is rooted in motor experience (Piaget, 1952; Thelen & Smith, 1994). This symposium explores the boundaries of this phenomenon. Specifically, we investigate how learning is affected by active versus passive experiences, and the use of different types of actions (i.e., actions on objects, gestures off objects, creation of objects). We bring together four papers that approach the topic across age ranges (12-month-olds to 5-year-olds), learning domains (multi-modal integration, relational thinking, and letter and word learning), and methodologies (behavioral, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)).

The first paper uses behavioral and EEG measures to ask how infants integrate multimodal information after active versus passive experience. The second paper uses fMRI to compare the neural underpinnings of letter processing following writing, tracing or typing practice. The third paper asks how actions or gestures that reference objects affect 3.5-year-olds’ ability to think relationally in a cross-mapping task. Finally, the fourth paper compares how 5-year-olds learn new verbs through active and passive experiences, varying whether these movements involve action on objects or gesture near objects. Through these papers, we inform the long-standing issue of how children’s motor experiences, both active and passive, support conceptual development. By considering this old question in new ways we present a nuanced approach to understanding how action affects cognition.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chairs

• Elizabeth Wakefield, Univ of Chicago

• Miriam A Novack, Psychology

Individual Presentations

• The Unique Role of Multisensory Active Experience on Multisensory Integration and Activation of the Motor System in Infants - Presenting Author: Sarah A Gerson, University of St. Andrews; Harold Bekkering, Radboud University Nijmegen; Sabine Hunnius, University of Nijmegen

• The Influence of Visual-Motor Experiences on the Development of Brain Mechanisms Subserving Letter Perception - Presenting Author: Sophia Vinci-Booher, Indiana University; Thomas W James, Indiana University; Karin James, Indiana University

• Action Versus Gesture: What Cues Help or Hinder 3-year-olds in a Cross-Mapping Task? - Presenting Author: Miriam A Novack, Psychology; Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago; Amanda Woodward, University of Chicago

• Can you Show me ‘Yocking’? Learning Novel Verbs Through Producing and Observing Actions and Gestures - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Wakefield, Univ of Chicago; Karin James, Indiana University; Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago