The influence of electronic sound effects on learning from televised and live models

Infants rapidly accrue information via imitation from multiple sources, including television and electronic toys. In two experiments, we examined whether adding sound effects to video or live demonstrations would influence imitation by 6-, 12-, and 18-month-olds. In Experiment 1, we added matching and mismatching sound effects to target actions presented by a televised model. We found that 6-month-olds reproduced the target actions regardless of whether the sound effects were matched or mismatched, whereas 12- and 18-month-olds reproduced the actions only when the sound effects were matched. In Experiment 2, we added matching sound effects to target actions presented by a live model. The addition of sound effects disrupted imitation performance by 6-, 12-, and 18-month-olds. Overall, imitation provides a clear behavioral measure of rapid changes in learning from television and electronic toys during infancy. These findings have practical implications for producers and parents regarding learning in the digital age and theoretical implications regarding the development of integrated action-perception representational systems.     

"Don't try this at home": toddlers' imitation of new skills from people on video

Imitation of people on educational television is a potential way for very young children to learn new skills. Although toddlers in previous studies exhibited a “video deficit” in learning, 24-month-olds in Study 1 successfully reproduced behaviors modeled by a person who was on video as well as they did those modeled by a person who was present in the room (even after a 24-h delay). Neither displaced filming context nor cuts between actions affected toddlers’ imitation from video. Shortening the demonstration in Study 2 affected imitation in the video condition but not in the live condition. In Study 3, 24-month-olds who viewed the original longer videos on their family TV screens (with which they had a viewing history) imitated significantly less than those who viewed the videos on the laboratory monitor. Imitation of a live modeler was the same across settings (home or lab). Implications for toddlers’ judgments of reliable information sources and for the design of educational television programs are discussed.     

Observational learning in capuchin monkeys: a video deficit effect

Young human children have been shown to learn less effectively from video or televised images than from real-life demonstrations. Although nonhuman primates respond to and can learn from video images, there is a lack of direct comparisons of task acquisition from video and live demonstrations. To address this gap in knowledge, we presented capuchin monkeys with video clips of a human demonstrator explicitly hiding food under one of two containers. The clips were presented at normal, faster than normal, or slower than normal speed, and then the monkeys were allowed to choose between the real containers. Even after 55 sessions and hundreds of video demonstration trials the monkeys’ performances indicated no mastery of the task, and there was no effect of video speed. When given live demonstrations of the hiding act, the monkeys’ performances were vastly improved. Upon subsequent return to video demonstrations, performances declined to pre-live-demonstration levels, but this time with evidence for an advantage of fast video demonstrations. Demonstration action speed may be one aspect of images that influence nonhuman primates’ ability to learn from video images, an ability that in monkeys, as in young children, appears limited compared to learning from live models.     

Music interferes with learning from television during infancy

Infants are frequently exposed to music during daily activities, including free play, and while viewing infant‐directed videotapes that contain instrumental music soundtracks. In Experiment 1, an instrumental music soundtrack was played during a live or televised demonstration to examine its effects on deferred imitation by 6‐, 12‐, and 18‐month‐old infants. Transfer of information was indexed via deferred imitation of the target actions following a 24‐h delay. For half the infants, the music context was also reinstated at the time of test. Performance by experimental groups was compared to that of a baseline control group that participated in the test session without prior exposure to the demonstration. Imitation performance was above baseline for the live groups but not for the video groups regardless of age or the music context at test. In Experiment 2, we added matched sound effects to the video demonstration and infants performed above baseline. We conclude that the music track creates additional cognitive load, disrupts selective attention to the target actions and inhibits transfer of learning from television of the imitation task. Music may impair an infant's ability to translate information from a two‐dimensional to three‐dimensional world even if the auditory context remains the same. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gradations of emulation learning in infants' imitation of actions on objects

This study explored different gradations of emulation in the imitation of actions on objects by 17-month-olds. Experiment 1 established levels of behavioral reproduction following prerecorded video demonstrations similar to those levels following live demonstrations. In Experiment 2, two digitally modified videos, where object movements or body movements critical to producing the target action were highlighted in isolation, were developed. Infants produced the target action equally frequently by observing the object movement video and observing the unmodified video. In contrast, their performance was much less successful based on the body movement video. In Experiment 3, the performance obtained following the object movement video was similar to that following a further video that emphasized the object movements produced in unsuccessful attempts to produce the target action. These findings suggest that emulation in the form of object movement reenactment or affordance learning plays a role in the social learning of actions on objects during infancy.     

Transfer of learning between 2D and 3D sources during infancy: Informing theory and practice

The ability to transfer learning across contexts is an adaptive skill that develops rapidly during early childhood. Learning from television is a specific instance of transfer of learning between a two-dimensional (2D) representation and a three-dimensional (3D) object. Understanding the conditions under which young children might accomplish this particular kind of transfer is important because by 2 years of age 90% of US children are viewing television on a daily basis. Recent research shows that children can imitate actions presented on television using the corresponding real-world objects, but this same research also shows that children learn less from television than they do from live demonstrations until they are at least 3 years old; termed the video deficit effect. At present, there is no coherent theory to account for the video deficit effect; how learning is disrupted by this change in context is poorly understood. The aims of the present review are: (1) to review the conditions under which children transfer learning between 2D images and 3D objects during early childhood and (2) to integrate developmental theories of memory processing into the transfer of learning from media literature using Hayne’s (2004) developmental representational flexibility account. The review will conclude that studies on the transfer of learning between 2D and 3D sources have important theoretical implications for general developmental theories of cognitive development, and in particular the development of a flexible representational system, as well as policy implications for early education regarding the potential use and limitations of media as effective teaching tools during early childhood.     

Long-term transfer of learning from books and video during toddlerhood

Television viewing and picture book reading are prevalent activities during toddlerhood, and research has shown that toddlers can imitate from both books and videos after short delays. This is the first study to directly compare toddlers' long-term retention rates for target actions learned from a video or book. Toddlers (N=158) at 18- and 24-months of age saw an experimenter demonstrating how to make a novel three-step toy rattle via a prerecorded video or a picture book. The toddlers' imitation of the target actions was tested after a specific delay (e.g., 2, 4 weeks), and their performance was compared with that of age-matched controls who did not see a demonstration. The 18-month-olds retained the target actions for 2 weeks, exhibiting forgetting at 4 weeks, whereas the 24-month-olds retained the information for up to 4 weeks, exhibiting forgetting at 8 weeks. Retention rates for books and videos did not differ at either age. These findings demonstrate very impressive retention from a brief two-dimensional media demonstration, and they contribute to our overall understanding of long-term memory processes during infancy.     

Re-enactment of intended acts from a video presentation by 18- and 24-month-old children

We used the Re-enactment of intention paradigm to investigate whether children would re-enact what an adult intended to do in a video presentation as they do when presented with a live demonstration (Meltzoff in Dev Psychol 31(5):838-850, 1995). Unlike the 18-month-old infants studied by Meltzoff (Dev Psychol 31(5):838-850, 1995), the 18- and 24-month-olds in the current study did not frequently imitate unsuccessful goal-directed actions presented in a video model. Children who performed better in the task also tended to share more of their attention with the experimenter during co-viewing of the video. Performance on the Re-enactment of intention task was positively related to categorization score, an independent measure of cognitive functioning.     

Infant imitation from television using novel touch screen technology

Infants learn less from a televised demonstration than from a live demonstration, the video deficit effect. The present study employs a novel approach, using touch screen technology to examine 15‐month olds' transfer of learning. Infants were randomly assigned either to within‐dimension (2D/2D or 3D/3D) or cross‐dimension (3D/2D or 2D/3D) conditions. For the within‐dimension conditions, an experimenter demonstrated an action by pushing a virtual button on a 2D screen or a real button on a 3D object. Infants were then given the opportunity to imitate using the same screen or object. For the 3D/2D condition, an experimenter demonstrated the action on the 3D object, and infants were given the opportunity to reproduce the action on a 2D touch screen (and vice versa for the 2D/3D condition). Infants produced significantly fewer target actions in the cross‐dimension conditions than in the within‐dimension conditions. These findings have important implications for infants' understanding and learning from 2D images and for their using 2D media as the basis of actions in the real world.     

Memory retrieval by 18--30-month-olds: age-related changes in representational flexibility

Deferred imitation was used to trace changes in memory retrieval by 18-30-month-olds. In all experiments, an adult demonstrated 2 sets of actions using 2 different sets of stimuli. In Experiments 1A and 1B, independent groups of infants were tested immediately or after a 24-hr delay. Each infant was tested with 1 set of stimuli from the original demonstration and 1 set of stimuli that was different. Recall of the target actions when tested with different stimuli increased as a function of age, particularly after a delay. In Experiment 2, infants were provided with a unique verbal label for the stimuli during the demonstration and the test. The verbal label facilitated performance by 24-month-olds tested with different stimuli but had no effect on performance by 18-month-olds. One hallmark of memory development appears to be an age-related increase in the range of effective retrieval cues for a particular memory.     

Understanding the properties of interactive televised characters

Children's television programming frequently uses interactive characters that appear to directly engage the viewers. These characters encourage children to answer questions and perform actions to help the characters solve problems in the televised world. Children readily engage in these interactions; however, it is unclear why they do so. To investigate this issue, 53 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds made decisions about events occurring in the real world based on information provided by a live individual and by a televised interactive computer-generated character. Five-year-olds followed the advice of both the live individual and the televised computer-generated character, whereas 7- and 9-year-olds only followed the advice of the live individual. Results are discussed in terms of a transition from children believing that interactive televised characters can engage in a real communicative interaction to children understanding that this apparent interaction is an illusion.     

Infants' perception of goal‐directed actions on video

Imitation studies and object search studies show that infants have difficulties using action information presented on video to guide their own behaviour. The present study investigated whether infants also have problems interpreting information shown on video relative to real live information. It was examined whether 6‐month‐olds interpret an action with a salient action effect as goal‐directed when it is performed by an actor on a video‐screen and when it is performed by a live actor. A video presentation of a goal‐directed action display was presented to one group of infants, and another group received the same action display, matched in all details, live on a stage. Results indicate that 6‐month‐olds in the video group as well as in the live group interpreted the human action as goal‐directed. Moreover, comparison across both groups revealed no difference in the overall looking pattern between the video and the live presentation group. Thus, our findings show that infants as young as 6 months of age can take important information from video clips and interpret televised actions in meaningful ways that is equivalent to their interpretation of live actions.     

Mediated imitation in 6-month-olds: remembering by association

In two experiments with 72 6-month-olds, we examined whether associating an imitation task with an operant task affects infants' memory for either task. In Experiment 1, infants who imitated target actions that were modeled for 60 s on a hand puppet remembered them for only 1 day. We hypothesized that if infants associated the puppet imitation task with a longer-remembered operant task, then they might remember it longer too. In Experiment 2, infants learned to press a lever to activate a miniature train-a task 6-month-olds remember for 2 weeks-and saw the target actions modeled immediately afterward. These infants successfully imitated for up to 2 weeks, but only if the train memory was retrieved first. A follow-up experiment revealed that the learned association was bidirectional. This is the first demonstration of mediated imitation in 6-month-olds across two very different paradigms and reveals that associations are an important means of protracting memories.     

From blooming,buzzing confusion to media literacy: The early development of television viewing

Television comprehension is a surprisingly demanding task for very young children. Based on a task analysis of television viewing and review of research, we suggest that by 6 months of age, infants can identify objects and people on screen. By 24 months they can comprehend and imitate simple actions contained in single shots and begin to integrate information across shots. Toddlers nevertheless suffer from the video deficit whereby their comprehension is less than from equivalent real life displays. During the preschool years they learn much of the grammar of filmic montage and can comprehend straightforward narrative productions. Essentially adult comprehension appears to be in place by 13 years of age.     

Social-Psychological Origins of Feelings of Presence: Creating Social Presence With Machine-Generated Voices

Two experiments were conducted to test several questions regarding very young children's (6–24 months) learning (i.e., simple action imitation and word learning) from video. Specifically, this study tested the video deficit, which is the tendency for infants and toddlers to learn significantly more effectively from live information than they do when identical information is presented on a screen. First, the video deficit was explored using two different tasks. Overall, the pattern of results was similar for action imitation and word learning. Specifically, the video deficit was present for both simple action imitation and for word learning in the middle cohort, but not present for younger and older children. Second, there was some mitigation of the video deficit from seeing socially meaningful actors for action imitation; however for word learning the effect only approached significance. Third, repetition helped children learn words more effectively, especially for the youngest and oldest cohort; however, repetition did not help for simple task imitation.     

“Should I or shouldn’t I?” Imitation of undesired versus allowed actions from peer and adult models by 18- and 24-month-old toddlers

Imitation is a common way of acquiring novel behaviors in toddlers. However, little is known about toddlers’ imitation of undesired actions. Here we investigated 18- and 24-month-olds’ (N = 110) imitation of undesired and allowed actions from televised peer and adult models. Permissiveness of the demonstrated actions was indicated by the experimenter’s response to their execution (angry or neutral). Analyses revealed that toddlers’ imitation scores were higher after demonstrations of allowed versus undesired actions, regardless of the age of the model. In agreement with prior research, these results suggest that third-party reactions to a model’s actions can be a powerful cue for toddlers to engage in or refrain from imitation. In the context of the present study, third-party reactions were more influential on imitation than the model’s age. Considering the relative influence of different social cues for imitation can help to gain a fuller understanding of early observational learning.     

Do I get what you get? Learning about the effects of self-performed and observed actions in infancy

The present study investigated whether infants learn the effects of other persons' actions like they do for their own actions, and whether infants transfer observed action-effect relations to their own actions. Nine-, 12-, 15- and 18-month-olds explored an object that allowed two actions, and that produced a certain salient effect after each action. In a self-exploration group, infants explored the object directly, whereas in two observation groups, infants first watched an adult model acting on the object and obtaining a certain effect with each action before exploring the objects by themselves. In one observation group, the infants' actions were followed by the same effects as the model's actions, but in the other group, the action-effect mapping for the infant was reversed to that of the model. The results showed that the observation of the model had an impact on the infants' exploration behavior from 12 months, but not earlier, and that the specific relations between observed actions and effects were acquired by 15 months. Thus, around their first birthday infants learn the effects of other persons' actions by observation, and they transfer the observed action-effect relations to their own actions in the second year of life.     

Reenactment of televised content by 2-year olds: toddlers use language learned from television to solve a difficult imitation problem

Parents commonly label objects on television and for some programs, verbal labels are also provided directly via voice-over. The present study investigated whether toddlers' imitation performance from television would be facilitated if verbal labels were presented on television via voice-over or if they were presented by parents who were co-viewing with their toddlers. Sixty-one 2-year olds were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (voice-over video, parent video, parent video no label, parent live) or to a baseline control condition. Toddlers were tested with novel objects after a 24h delay. Although, all experimental groups imitated significantly more target actions than the baseline control group, imitation was facilitated by novel labels regardless of whether those labels were provided by parents or by voice-over on television. These findings have important implications for toddler learning from television.     

The social context of imitation in infancy

Infants increasingly generalize deferred imitation across environmental contexts between 6 and 18 months of age. In three experiments with 126 6-, 9-, 12-, 15-, and 18-month-olds, we examined the role of the social context in deferred imitation. One experimenter demonstrated target actions on a hand puppet, and a second experimenter tested imitation 24h later. When the second experimenter was novel, infants did not exhibit deferred imitation at any age; when infants were preexposed to the second experimenter, all of them did. Imitating immediately after the demonstration also facilitated deferred imitation in a novel social context at all ages but 6 months. Infants' pervasive failure to exhibit deferred imitation in a novel social context may reflect evolutionary selection pressures that favored conservative behavior in social animals.     

Examining the role of social cues in early word learning

Infants watched a video of an adult pointing towards two different objects while hearing novel labels. Analyses indicated that 14- and 18-month-olds looked longer at the target object, but only 18-month-olds showed word learning. The results suggest that different types of social cues are available at different ages.