BABIES CAN THINK BEFORE THEY CAN SPEAK
Two pennies can be
considered the same -- both are pennies, just as two elephants can be
considered the same, as both are elephants. Despite the vast difference between
pennies and elephants, we easily notice the common relation of sameness that
holds for both pairs.
Analogical ability --
the ability to see common relations between objects, events or ideas -- is a
key skill that underlies human intelligence and differentiates humans from
other apes.
While there is
considerable evidence that preschoolers can learn abstract relations, it
remains an open question whether infants can as well. In a new Northwestern
University study, researchers found that infants are capable of learning the
abstract relations of same and different after only a few examples.
"This suggests
that a skill key to human intelligence is present very early in human
development, and that language skills are not necessary for learning abstract
relations," said lead author Alissa Ferry, who conducted the research at
Northwestern.
To trace the origins
of relational thinking in infants, the researchers tested whether 7-month-old
infants could understand the simplest and most basic abstract relation -- that
of sameness and difference between two things. Infants were shown pairs of
items that were either the same -- two Elmo dolls -- or different -- an Elmo
doll and a toy camel -- until their looking time declined.
In the test phase, the
infants looked longer at pairs showing the novel relation, even when the test
pairs were composed of new objects. That is, infants who had learned the same
relation looked longer at test pairs showing the different relation during
test, and vice versa. This suggests that the infants had encoded the abstract relation
and detected when the relation changed.
"We found that
infants are capable of learning these relations," said Ferry, now doing
post-doctoral research at the International School for Advanced Studies in
Italy. "Additionally, infants exhibit the same patterns of learning as
older children and adults -- relational learning benefits from seeing multiple
examples of the relation and is impeded when attention is drawn to the
individual objects composing the relation."
Susan Hespos, a
co-author of the study, and associate professor of psychology at Northwestern's
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences said, "We show that infants can form
abstract relations before they learn the words that describe relations, meaning
that relational learning in humans does not require language and is a
fundamental human skill of its own."
Dedre Gentner, a
co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Weinberg, said, "The
infants in our study were able to form an abstract same or different relation
after seeing only 6-9 examples. It appears that relational learning is
something that humans, even very young humans, are much better at than other
primates."
For example, she noted
that in a recent study using baboons, those animals that succeeded in matching
same and different relations required over 15,000 trials.
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