Social learning of artefact function in 12- and 15-month-olds

Abstract

This study investigates whether infants transfer observed information about the functional use of novel artefacts to their own actions, and whether they generalize this knowledge to perceptually different objects that share the same functional feature. In two experiments, 12- and 15-month-olds performed an imitation task followed by a generalization task. In the imitation task, the same target act was demonstrated with two simple monochrome objects fitted with a specific part, producing a sound effect with one object, but no salient effects with the other object. Infants in both age groups increased their actions on the objects after the demonstration, but only the 15-month-olds preferred to use the “effective” object. This suggests that younger infants learned knowledge about the general function of the objects, whereas older infants learned knowledge about the objects' specific function. In the following generalization task, infants watched no demonstration, but were presented with complex multicoloured objects fitted with the same functional part as the demonstration objects. Both age groups generalized the acquired functional knowledge to the novel objects. Yet, the specificity of the functional information acquired in social learning situations changed between 12 and 15 months of age, which may not only affect the learning of tool use, but also the categorization of artefacts.

Acknowledgments

Much appreciation is due to the infants and parents who participated in this research. Special thanks to Wencke Brusniak for her assistance in data collection and coding. We also thank Christiane Fauth-Scheurich, Jasmin Gruner, Nancy Günther, Stefanie Höhl, and Silja Kennecke for making the appointments, running the experiments and scoring the video tapes.