Infants learn about objects from statistics and people.

Abstract

In laboratory experiments, infants are sensitive to patterns of visual features that co-occur (e.g., Fiser & Aslin, 2002). Once infants learn the statistical regularities, however, what do they do with that knowledge? Moreover, which patterns do infants learn in the cluttered world outside of the laboratory? Across 4 experiments, we show that 9-month-olds use this sensitivity to make inferences about object properties. In Experiment 1, 9-month-old infants expected co-occurring visual features to remain fused (i.e., infants looked longer when co-occurring features split apart than when they stayed together). Forming such expectations can help identify integral object parts for object individuation, recognition, and categorization. In Experiment 2, we increased the task difficulty by presenting the test stimuli simultaneously with a different spatial layout from the familiarization trials to provide a more ecologically valid condition. Infants did not make similar inferences in this more distracting test condition. However, Experiment 3 showed that a social cue did allow inferences in this more difficult test condition, and Experiment 4 showed that social cues helped infants choose patterns among distractor patterns during learning as well as during test. These findings suggest that infants can use feature co-occurrence to learn about objects and that social cues shape such foundational learning in distraction-filled environments.

The multi-component nature of statistical learning

“…[85,86]). It has been suggested by Kuhl [87] that 'Social cues 'gate' what and when children learn from language input.'…”

A Novel Theoretical Life Course Framework for Triggering Cognitive Development across the Lifespan

“…Developmental psychology has accepted for decades that scaffolding is a critical factor promoting cognitive development, especially when children are faced with a situation that is beyond their current abilities [e.g., Wu et al, 2011]. The goal of scaffolding in child development is to provide initial support for the learner so that eventually the leaner can perform the task on her own.…”

“…Open-minded input-driven learning involves observing and using patterns in the environment [Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996;Wu, Gopnik, Richardson, & Kirkham, 2011] more often than relying on prior knowledge gained from previous experiences. This concept differs from closed-minded knowledge-driven learning, where the learner relies more on prior knowledge (e.g., schemas, routines, assump-tions) than input to acquire information for a given task.…”

The Novel Object and Unusual Name (NOUN) Database: A collection of novel images for use in experimental research

“…First, the images in the NOUN Database depict multi-part, multi-colored, real threedimensional (3D) objects as opposed to simple geometric shape configurations (e.g., L. B. Smith & Yu, 2008;Wu, Gopnik, Richardson, & Kirkham, 2011) or seemingly animate objects (e.g., Gauthier & Tarr, 1997;Mather, Schafer, & Houston-Price, 2011;Rakison & Poulin-Dubois, 2002). As such, these stimuli are ideal for researchers who need images of naturalistic, complex novel objects to present against images of real 3D objects that are already familiar to participants (e.g., familiar distractors or known competitors).…”