Object-based understanding and learning: Roles of infant active experience and skill

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Infants are surrounded by objects in their everyday environments. Learning about object properties, including causal relations between objects, the interplay between people and objects, and how to perform actions on objects, is crucial for early development. Infants learn about object properties through active experience; yet, infants also learn through passive observation. In addition, one type of learning experience may not fit all: Individual differences in infants’ motor skills and behaviors during learning may influence object understanding. This symposium brings together three presentations on different types of object understanding that occur in early development, shedding light on the roles of active versus passive experience and individual differences in infant skills.

Presentation 1 found that 4-month-olds who received caregiver-implemented active (not passive) sticky mittens training demonstrated better causal understanding of object-based events. New analyses will assess whether this relation was driven by infant distractibility and caregiver behavior during training. Presentation 2 showed that 9-11-month-olds with better motor skills during active training had improved goal understanding of a novel tool-use action. At this young age, infants did not learn the goal relations from observational experience alone. Presentation 3 demonstrated that 24-month-olds learned to perform actions on objects equally well from active and observational experience, but different behaviors supported learning: Engagement improved active learning and visual attention improved observational learning. This work broadens our understanding of early object-based learning from active and observational experience throughout early development, emphasizing individual differences in infant skills and behaviors.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chair

• Natalie Brezack, University of Chicago

Discussant

• Amy Needham, Vanderbilt University

Individual Presentations

• Effects of active experience and parent interaction on infants’ learning about objects during sticky mittens - Presenting Author: Nonah Olesen, University of Louisville; Non-Presenting Author: Jalena N Slaton, University of Louisville; Non-Presenting Author: Nicholas A Holt; Non-Presenting Author: Cara H Cashon, University of Louisville

• The effects of observational comparison and active motor training on infants’ action understanding - Presenting Author: Charlotte De Moor, Cardiff University; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah A Gerson, Cardiff University; Non-Presenting Author: Ross E Vanderwert, Cardiff University

• Active and observational conventional action learning: Relations with toddlers’ skills and behaviors - Presenting Author: Natalie Brezack, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Chandler, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Amanda Woodward, University of Chicago