The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions
Four-year-olds were more accurate at learning causal structures from their own actions when they were allowed to act first and then observe an experimenter act, as opposed to observing first and then acting on the environment. Children who discovered the causal efficacy of events (as opposed to conf...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2010-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00176/full |
| _version_ | 1818253289665331200 |
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| author | David eSobel Jessica Sommerville |
| author_facet | David eSobel Jessica Sommerville |
| author_sort | David eSobel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Four-year-olds were more accurate at learning causal structures from their own actions when they were allowed to act first and then observe an experimenter act, as opposed to observing first and then acting on the environment. Children who discovered the causal efficacy of events (as opposed to confirming the efficacy of events that they observed another discover) were also more accurate than children who only observed the experimenter act on the environment; accuracy in the confirmation and observation conditions was at similar levels. These data suggest that while children learn from acting on the environment, not all self-generated action produces equivalent causal learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T16:37:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a2d2cdf801af46bfbdb1c81057ce4b42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T16:37:43Z |
| publishDate | 2010-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-a2d2cdf801af46bfbdb1c81057ce4b422022-12-22T00:18:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782010-11-01110.3389/fpsyg.2010.001762036The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventionsDavid eSobel0Jessica Sommerville1Brown UniversityUniversity of WashingtonFour-year-olds were more accurate at learning causal structures from their own actions when they were allowed to act first and then observe an experimenter act, as opposed to observing first and then acting on the environment. Children who discovered the causal efficacy of events (as opposed to confirming the efficacy of events that they observed another discover) were also more accurate than children who only observed the experimenter act on the environment; accuracy in the confirmation and observation conditions was at similar levels. These data suggest that while children learn from acting on the environment, not all self-generated action produces equivalent causal learning.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00176/fullcausal learningInterventionsSelf-Generated Action |
| spellingShingle | David eSobel Jessica Sommerville The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions Frontiers in Psychology causal learning Interventions Self-Generated Action |
| title | The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions |
| title_full | The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions |
| title_fullStr | The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions |
| title_short | The importance of discovery in children’s causal learning from interventions |
| title_sort | importance of discovery in children s causal learning from interventions |
| topic | causal learning Interventions Self-Generated Action |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00176/full |
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