Becoming a high‐fidelity – super – imitator: what are the contributions of social and individual learning?

In contrast to other primates, human children's imitation performance goes from low to high fidelity soon after infancy. Are such changes associated with the development of other forms of learning? We addressed this question by testing 215 children (26–59 months) on two social conditions (imitation, emulation) – involving a demonstration – and two asocial conditions (trial‐and‐error, recall) – involving individual learning – using two touchscreen tasks. The tasks required responding to either three different pictures in a specific picture order (Cognitive: Airplane→Ball→Cow) or three identical pictures in a specific spatial order (Motor‐Spatial: Up→Down→Right). There were age‐related improvements across all conditions and imitation, emulation and recall performance were significantly better than trial‐and‐error learning. Generalized linear models demonstrated that motor‐spatial imitation fidelity was associated with age and motor‐spatial emulation performance, but cognitive imitation fidelity was only associated with age. While this study provides evidence for multiple imitation mechanisms, the development of one of those mechanisms – motor‐spatial imitation – may be bootstrapped by the development of another social learning skill – motor‐spatial emulation. Together, these findings provide important clues about the development of imitation, which is arguably a distinctive feature of the human species.     

Innovation in multidisciplinary teams: The moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between professional heterogeneity and shared mental models

Research on the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams has been equivocal. In an attempt to understand when a team’s professional heterogeneity (PH) is positively related to innovation (INN), we proposed an integrative model in which shared mental models (SMMs) are theorized as a mechanism to leverage INN in highly multidisciplinary teams. In addition, we claim that transformational leadership (TL), which is usually regarded as a factor contributing to team effectiveness, will attenuate the effect of teams’ PH on team SMM. In a field study of 55 R&D teams in Israel, we found that SMMs mediated the relationship between PH and INN, and that TL moderated the relationship between PH and Team SMM. We discuss the theoretical and practical implication of these findings.     

Time for temporal team mental models: Expanding beyond “what” and “how” to incorporate “when”

Although often ignored, establishing and maintaining congruence in team members’ temporal perceptions are consequential tasks that deserve research attention. Integrating research on team cognition and temporality, this study operationalized the notion of a temporal team mental model (TMM) at two points in time using two measurement methods. Ninety eight three-person teams participated in a computerized team simulation designed to mimic emergency crisis management situations in a distributed team environment. The results showed that temporal TMMs measured via concept maps and pairwise ratings each positively contributed uniquely to team performance beyond traditionally measured taskwork and teamwork content domains. In addition, temporal TMMs assessed later in teams’ development exerted stronger effects on team performance than those assessed earlier. The results provide support for the continued examination of temporal TMM similarity in future research.     

Career optimism: The roles of contextual support and career decision-making self-efficacy

Drawing from the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), we examined the role of parental support, teacher support, and career decision-making self-efficacy as sources of career optimism. We tested our proposed model using 235 computer science majors from a large university in the Philippines. Surveys were conducted over two measurement periods (1 year apart). Results revealed that Time 1 parental and teacher support were positively associated with Time 2 career optimism. Furthermore, we found that these direct relationships were fully mediated by Time 1 career decision-making self-efficacy. These results remained significant even after controlling for neuroticism and past performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Getting the Picture: Effects of Sketch Plans and Photographs on Children's,Adolescents' and Adults' Eyewitness Recall

We compared the effects of three types of visual aid on free recall across three age groups in an eyewitness paradigm. Child, adolescent and adult participants (N = 144) viewed a short film depicting a non‐violent crime and, following a brief delay, gave a free‐recall account. Participants then described the event once again, with the aid of their own sketch plan, a provided sketch plan or photograph, or with no visual aid. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded for the type and accuracy of information reported. Across all age groups, relative to the control condition, all three visual aids increased the amount of new information reported during the second free‐recall account and helped participants to maintain accuracy. All three visual aids therefore had a positive effect on participants' performance; in a forensic setting, however, witnesses' own sketch plans are likely to be the safest, most easily applied and most time effective.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.