1
|
Jeong J, Frye DA. Approximating the ZPD? Young children's judgements of appropriate task level for learning. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 39193835 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
This research examined how 3-6-year-olds judge appropriate levels of counting games based on a person's ability, desire for learning and degree of difficulty. Study 1 found that 3-year-olds did not consider a character's ability or desire, whereas older children gave high ability characters large number games and low ability characters small number games when the characters wanted to play a manageable game. However, older children gave large number games to characters who wanted to learn counting, regardless of their ability. In Study 2, in addition to a similar developmental change of jointly considering a character's ability and desire, it was found that 5-and 6-year-olds were more sensitive to the degree of difficulty. They were more careful than younger children to choose exceedingly large number games given the character's ability and desire. Implications for children's understanding of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and goal orientation are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeein Jeong
- Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Douglas A Frye
- Human Development and Quantitative Methods Division, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
van Liempd IH, Oudgenoeg-Paz O, Leseman PPM. Object exploration is facilitated by the physical and social environment in center-based child care. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 39189928 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
Object exploration is considered a driver of motor, cognitive, and social development. However, little is known about how early childhood education and care settings facilitate object exploration. This study examined if children's exploration of objects during free play was facilitated by the use of particular spatial components (floor, tables, and activity centers) and types of play (solitary, social, and parallel). Participants were 61 children (aged 11 to 48 months and 50.8% boys, socioeconomic levels representative of the Dutch population). Intraindividual variability in children's object exploration was predicted by the use of particular spatial components and the social setting, with small-to-medium effect sizes. Solitary and parallel play were positively associated with complex object exploration, especially when sitting or standing at child-height tables. During social play, object exploration was mostly absent.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ine H van Liempd
- Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz
- Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Paul P M Leseman
- Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Xiang Y, Vélez N, Gershman SJ. Optimizing competence in the service of collaboration. Cogn Psychol 2024; 150:101653. [PMID: 38503178 PMCID: PMC11023779 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2024.101653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
In order to efficiently divide labor with others, it is important to understand what our collaborators can do (i.e., their competence). However, competence is not static-people get better at particular jobs the more often they perform them. This plasticity of competence creates a challenge for collaboration: For example, is it better to assign tasks to whoever is most competent now, or to the person who can be trained most efficiently "on-the-job"? We conducted four experiments (N=396) that examine how people make decisions about whom to train (Experiments 1 and 3) and whom to recruit (Experiments 2 and 4) to a collaborative task, based on the simulated collaborators' starting expertise, the training opportunities available, and the goal of the task. We found that participants' decisions were best captured by a planning model that attempts to maximize the returns from collaboration while minimizing the costs of hiring and training individual collaborators. This planning model outperformed alternative models that based these decisions on the agents' current competence, or on how much agents stood to improve in a single training step, without considering whether this training would enable agents to succeed at the task in the long run. Our findings suggest that people do not recruit and train collaborators based solely on their current competence, nor solely on the opportunities for their collaborators to improve. Instead, people use an intuitive theory of competence to balance the costs of hiring and training others against the benefits to the collaboration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yang Xiang
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America.
| | - Natalia Vélez
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, United States of America
| | - Samuel J Gershman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America; Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, United States of America; Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, MIT, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Goldstone RL, Andrade-Lotero EJ, Hawkins RD, Roberts ME. The Emergence of Specialized Roles Within Groups. Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:257-281. [PMID: 36843212 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/28/2023]
Abstract
Humans routinely form groups to achieve goals that no individual can accomplish alone. Group coordination often brings to mind synchrony and alignment, where all individuals do the same thing (e.g., driving on the right side of the road, marching in lockstep, or playing musical instruments on a regular beat). Yet, effective coordination also typically involves differentiation, where specialized roles emerge for different members (e.g., prep stations in a kitchen or positions on an athletic team). Role specialization poses a challenge for computational models of group coordination, which have largely focused on achieving synchrony. Here, we present the CARMI framework, which characterizes role specialization processes in terms of five core features that we hope will help guide future model development: Communication, Adaptation to feedback, Repulsion, Multi-level planning, and Intention modeling. Although there are many paths to role formation, we suggest that roles emerge when each agent in a group dynamically allocates their behavior toward a shared goal to complement what they expect others to do. In other words, coordination concerns beliefs (who will do what) rather than simple actions. We describe three related experimental paradigms-"Group Binary Search," "Battles of the Exes," and "Find the Unicorn"-that we have used to study differentiation processes in the lab, each emphasizing different aspects of the CARMI framework.
Collapse
|
5
|
Sakata C, Ueda Y, Moriguchi Y. The contextual cueing effect disappears during joint search in preschool children. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105592. [PMID: 36442326 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
During preschool years, children's interacting with others increases. One of the involved developmental skills is task co-representation, through which children aged 5 years and older represent a partner's task in a similar way to their own task. In adults, task co-representation makes participants attend to and form memories of objects relevant to both their own task and their partner's task; however, it is unclear whether children can also form such memories. In Experiment 1, we examined the memory facilitation of joint search using a contextual cueing effect paradigm. Children were presented with search displays repeatedly with the same or random layouts and searched and responded to the target either alone (the single group; n = 32; Mage = 73.6 months, range = 61-80) or with their parent (the joint group; n = 32; Mage = 74.3 months, range = 64-81). Results showed that the search with the same layouts was faster than that with the random layouts for the single group, indicating that children form associative memories of target and distractors relevant to their own task. For the joint group, this effect was not statistically different from that of the single group, with exploratory analysis suggesting that it was disrupted. In Experiment 2, children performed the search with a peer (n = 32; Mage = 72.7 months, range = 67-79) and the effect was also not found. Our findings suggest that the self's and partner's tasks are represented but might not be incorporated into associative memory in 5- and 6-year-old children.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chifumi Sakata
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
| | - Yoshiyuki Ueda
- Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Yusuke Moriguchi
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Miss F, Adriaense J, Burkart J. Towards integrating joint action research: Developmental and evolutionary perspectives on co-representation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 143:104924. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
|
7
|
Rossano F, Terwilliger J, Bangerter A, Genty E, Heesen R, Zuberbühler K. How 2- and 4-year-old children coordinate social interactions with peers. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210100. [PMID: 35876200 PMCID: PMC9310186 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The Interaction Engine Hypothesis postulates that humans have a unique ability and motivation for social interaction. A crucial juncture in the ontogeny of the interaction engine could be around 2-4 years of age, but observational studies of children in natural contexts are limited. These data appear critical also for comparison with non-human primates. Here, we report on focal observations on 31 children aged 2- and 4-years old in four preschools (10 h per child). Children interact with a wide range of partners, many infrequently, but with one or two close friends. Four-year olds engage in cooperative social interactions more often than 2-year olds and fight less than 2-year olds. Conversations and playing with objects are the most frequent social interaction types in both age groups. Children engage in social interactions with peers frequently (on average 13 distinct social interactions per hour) and briefly (28 s on average) and shorter than those of great apes in comparable studies. Their social interactions feature entry and exit phases about two-thirds of the time, less frequently than great apes. The results support the Interaction Engine Hypothesis, as young children manifest a remarkable motivation and ability for fast-paced interactions with multiple partners. This article is part of the theme issue 'Revisiting the human 'interaction engine': comparative approaches to social action coordination'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federico Rossano
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jack Terwilliger
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Adrian Bangerter
- Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Emilie Genty
- Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | | | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Ruvalcaba O, Rogoff B. Children's fluid collaboration versus managing individual agendas: Cultural differences in pair programming. JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
|
9
|
Gold ZS, Perlman J, Howe N, Mishra AA, DeHart GB, Hertik H, Buckley J. An Observational Study of Children’s Problem Solving during Play with Friends. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2058509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zachary S. Gold
- State University of New York at Oswego, New York, United States
| | | | - Nina Howe
- Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Aura Ankita Mishra
- Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Ganie B. DeHart
- State University of New York at Geneseo, New York, United States
| | - Hannah Hertik
- State University of New York at Oswego, New York, United States
| | - Jessica Buckley
- State University of New York at Oswego, New York, United States
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
John Lemay D, Basnet RB, Doleck T, Bazelais P, Saxena A. Instructional interventions for computational thinking: Examining the link between computational thinking and academic performance. COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION OPEN 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
|
11
|
Baer C, Odic D. Mini managers: Children strategically divide cognitive labor among collaborators, but with a self-serving bias. Child Dev 2021; 93:437-450. [PMID: 34664258 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Strategic collaboration according to the law of comparative advantage involves dividing tasks based on the relative capabilities of group members. Three experiments (N = 405, primarily White and Asian, 45% female, collected 2016-2019 in Canada) examined how this strategy develops in children when dividing cognitive labor. Children divided questions about numbers between two partners. By 7 years, children allocated difficult questions to the skilled partner (Experiment 1, d = 1.42; Experiment 2, d = 0.87). However, younger children demonstrated a self-serving bias, choosing the easiest questions for themselves. Only when engaging in a third-party collaborative task did 5-year-olds assign harder questions to the more skilled individual (Experiment 3, d = 0.55). These findings demonstrate early understanding of strategic collaboration subject to a self-serving bias.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn Baer
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Darko Odic
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Herro D, Quigley C, Abimbade O. Assessing elementary students’ collaborative problem-solving in makerspace activities. INFORMATION AND LEARNING SCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1108/ils-08-2020-0176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify and assess collaborative problem solving (CPS) behaviors in elementary students in science, technology, engineering, arts/humanities and mathematics (STEAM)-related making and to garner students perspectives. We offer a valid way for researchers to understand collaborative processes and for educators to create opportunities for collaboration. Additionally, the feedback from the assessment offers students a way to reflect on their CPS skills.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study evaluated 52 elementary students’ CPS skills using co-measure, a validated rubric assessing students’ CPS when working in STEAM-related makerspace activities. Students worked in collaborative groups to “make” artifacts when solving a problem posed by their teacher. They were assessed using co-measure’s four dimensions: peer interactions, positive communication, inquiry rich/multiple paths and transdisciplinary approaches and scored via each dimension’s associated attributes. Student interviews provided their perspectives on CPS.
Findings
A majority of students scored in the acceptable or proficient range in the social dimensions of peer interactions and positive communication. Students scored slightly lower on the cognitive dimensions of inquiry rich/multiple paths and markedly lower on transdisciplinary approaches when collaborating. Findings suggest to increase CPS skills, teachers might develop “making” activities fostering greater inquiry and model ways to strategize and verify information, approach the problem drawing on student interest and prior knowledge and collaboratively use tools, materials and methods that mimic the real world when problem-solving.
Originality/value
Much of the current research on assessing CPS during making is in the early stages of considering appropriate assessment approaches, especially in schools. To expand this literature the study includes elementary students between the ages of 6-10, the focus is on assessing their collaboration using an observational rubric. The authors use preliminary findings from young children’s perspectives on making to position the future work.
Collapse
|
13
|
Sánchez-Amaro A, Duguid S, Call J, Tomasello M. Do 7-year-old children understand social leverage? J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 199:104963. [PMID: 32771716 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Revised: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with an advantageous position during a negotiation possess leverage over their partners. Several studies with adults have investigated how leverage can influence the coordination strategies of individuals when conflicts of interest arise. In this study, we explored how pairs of 7-year-old children solved a coordination game (based on the Snowdrift scenario) when one child had leverage over the other child. We presented a social dilemma in the form of an unequal reward distribution on a rotating tray. The rotating tray could be accessed by both children. The child who waited longer to act received the best outcome, but if both children waited too long, they would lose the rewards. In addition, one child could forgo the access to the rotating tray for an alternative option-the leverage. Although children rarely used their leverage strategically, children with access to the alternative were less likely to play the social dilemma, especially when their leverage was larger. Furthermore, children waited longer to act as the leverage decreased. Finally, children almost never failed to coordinate. The results hint to a trade-off between maximizing benefits while maintaining long-term collaboration in complex scenarios where strategies such as turn taking are hard to implement.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Sánchez-Amaro
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Deparment of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Shona Duguid
- Deparment of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Josep Call
- Deparment of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Deparment of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Meyer M, Hunnius S. Becoming better together: The early development of interpersonal coordination. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 254:187-204. [PMID: 32859287 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Crucial for interacting successfully with other people is the ability to coordinate one's actions with those of others. Interpersonal coordination can be planned or emergent (spontaneous). Although typically easy for adults, coordinating successfully and smoothly with others may be far from trivial for infants and toddlers. What do we know about the developmental trajectory of interpersonal coordination in the first years of life? Which processes play a role in successfully coordinating with others? And how does the development of interpersonal coordination impact other aspects of children's development? In this chapter, we review when and how infants and young children develop successful interpersonal coordination skills (planned and emergent) in early childhood. We argue that insights from the field of cognitive (neuro-) science have significantly advanced our knowledge on which social-cognitive processes underlie interpersonal coordination and its development. In particular, we discuss four important social-cognitive processes; monitoring and predicting others' actions as well as planning and controlling one's own actions. We then present findings on the impact of interpersonal coordination on young children's social understanding, their prosocial behavior and affiliation. Together, we conclude that for future research on the development of interpersonal coordination interdisciplinary exchanges between fields like cognitive (neuro-) science and developmental science offer promising avenues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Meyer
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Voinov PV, Call J, Knoblich G, Oshkina M, Allritz M. Chimpanzee Coordination and Potential Communication in a Two-touchscreen Turn-taking Game. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3400. [PMID: 32098996 PMCID: PMC7042301 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60307-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent years have seen a growing interest in the question of whether and how groups of nonhuman primates coordinate their behaviors for mutual benefit. On the one hand, it has been shown that chimpanzees in the wild and in captivity can solve various coordination problems. On the other hand, evidence of communication in the context of coordination problems is scarce. Here, we investigated how pairs of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) solved a problem of dynamically coordinating their actions for achieving a joint goal. We presented five pairs of chimpanzees with a turn-taking coordination game, where the task was to send a virtual target from one computer display to another using two touch-screens. During the joint practice of the game some subjects exhibited spontaneous gesturing. To address the question whether these gestures were produced to sustain coordination, we introduced a joint test condition in which we simulated a coordination break-down scenario: subjects appeared either unwilling or unable to return the target to their partner. The frequency of gesturing was significantly higher in these test trials than in the regular trials. Our results suggest that at least in some contexts chimpanzees can exhibit communicative behaviors to sustain coordination in joint action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pavel V Voinov
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Oktober 6 u. 7, H-1051, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Josep Call
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JU, UK
| | - Günther Knoblich
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Oktober 6 u. 7, H-1051, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Marina Oshkina
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Oktober 6 u. 7, H-1051, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Matthias Allritz
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany.
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JU, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Charisi V, Gomez E, Mier G, Merino L, Gomez R. Child-Robot Collaborative Problem-Solving and the Importance of Child's Voluntary Interaction: A Developmental Perspective. Front Robot AI 2020; 7:15. [PMID: 33501184 PMCID: PMC7806108 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2020.00015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence and development of cognitive strategies for the transition from exploratory actions towards intentional problem-solving in children is a key question for the understanding of the development of human cognition. Researchers in developmental psychology have studied cognitive strategies and have highlighted the catalytic role of the social environment. However, it is not yet adequately understood how this capacity emerges and develops in biological systems when they perform a problem-solving task in collaboration with a robotic social agent. This paper presents an empirical study in a human-robot interaction (HRI) setting which investigates children's problem-solving from a developmental perspective. In order to theoretically conceptualize children's developmental process of problem-solving in HRI context, we use principles based on the intuitive theory and we take into consideration existing research on executive functions with a focus on inhibitory control. We considered the paradigm of the Tower of Hanoi and we conducted an HRI behavioral experiment to evaluate task performance. We designed two types of robot interventions, "voluntary" and "turn-taking"-manipulating exclusively the timing of the intervention. Our results indicate that the children who participated in the voluntary interaction setting showed a better performance in the problem solving activity during the evaluation session despite their large variability in the frequency of self-initiated interactions with the robot. Additionally, we present a detailed description of the problem-solving trajectory for a representative single case-study, which reveals specific developmental patterns in the context of the specific task. Implications and future work are discussed regarding the development of intelligent robotic systems that allow child-initiated interaction as well as targeted and not constant robot interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vicky Charisi
- Centre for Advanced Studies, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Seville, Spain
| | - Emilia Gomez
- Centre for Advanced Studies, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Seville, Spain
- Music Technology Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gonzalo Mier
- Service Robotics Lab, School of Engineering, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
| | - Luis Merino
- Service Robotics Lab, School of Engineering, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
| | - Randy Gomez
- Honda Research Institute Japan Co., Ltd., Saitama, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Corbit J. Increased sharing between collaborators extends beyond the spoils of collaboration. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 186:159-170. [PMID: 31280133 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Research has shown that preschoolers increase equal sharing after collaborating to earn resources, suggesting that collaboration may be an important context for the development of fairness. The current study explored the influence of specific components of collaborative interactions to better understand the social cognitive foundations of this precocious increase in equal sharing. The effects of three forms of collaborative interaction on children's sharing were compared: collaborating toward a joint concrete goal of earning resources that could subsequently be shared, collaborating toward a joint concrete goal without earning resources, and playing a social game without earning resources. Replicating previous work, a significant increase in the proportion of equal sharing was observed when children shared collaboratively earned resources. Extending these findings, collaboration toward a concrete goal resulted in increased sharing regardless of whether resources were earned collaboratively or given outside of the collaborative context. Social play alone was not found to influence children's sharing, highlighting the importance of the context of collaboration toward a concrete goal to increase children's sharing. Overall, these findings suggest that collaborating toward a shared concrete goal fosters a general increase in prosociality that extends beyond the context of sharing collaboratively earned resources.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- John Corbit
- Department of Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Maffongelli L, D’Ausilio A, Fadiga L, Daum MM. The Ontogenesis of Action Syntax. COLLABRA-PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1525/collabra.215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Language and action share similar organizational principles. Both are thought to be hierarchical and recursive in nature. Here we address the relationship between language and action from developmental and neurophysiological perspectives. We discuss three major aspects: The extent of the analogy between language and action; the necessity to extend research on the yet largely neglected aspect of action syntax; the positive contribution of a developmental approach to this topic. We elaborate on the claim that adding an ontogenetic approach will help to obtain a comprehensive picture about both the interplay between language and action and its development, and to answer the question whether the underlying mechanisms of detecting syntactic violations of action sequences are similar to or different from the processing of language syntactic violations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Maffongelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH
- Department of Psychology, Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz, DE
| | - Alessandro D’Ausilio
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication (CTNSC@UNIFE), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, IT
- Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, IT
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication (CTNSC@UNIFE), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, IT
- Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, IT
| | - Moritz M. Daum
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, CH
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
|
20
|
Magid RW, DePascale M, Schulz LE. Four- and 5-Year-Olds Infer Differences in Relative Ability and Appropriately Allocate Roles to Achieve Cooperative, Competitive, and Prosocial Goals. OPEN MIND 2018. [DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Preschoolers are sensitive to differences in individuals’ access to external resources (e.g., tools) in division of labor tasks. However, little is known about whether children consider differences in individuals’ internal resources (e.g., abilities) and whether children can flexibly allocate roles across different goal contexts. Critically, factors that are relevant to role allocation in collaborative contexts may be irrelevant in competitive and prosocial ones. In three preregistered experiments, we found that 4- and 5-year-olds (mean: 54 months; range: 42–66 months; N = 132) used age differences to infer relative ability and appropriately allocate the harder and easier of two tasks in a dyadic cooperative interaction (Experiment 1), and appropriately ignored relative ability in competitive (Experiment 2) and prosocial (Experiment 3) contexts, instead assigning others the harder and easier roles, respectively. Thus, 3-and-a-half- to 5-year-olds evaluate their own abilities relative to others and effectively allocate roles to achieve diverse goals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel W. Magid
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| | - Mary DePascale
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland
| | - Laura E. Schulz
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Alcalá L, Rogoff B, López Fraire A. Sophisticated collaboration is common among Mexican-heritage US children. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:11377-11384. [PMID: 30397137 PMCID: PMC6233073 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805707115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In light of calls for improving people's skill in collaboration, this paper examines strengths in processes of collaboration of Mexican immigrant children. Sibling pairs (6-10 years old) in California were asked to collaborate in planning the shortest route through a model grocery store. On average, 14 sibling pairs with Mexican Indigenous-heritage backgrounds engaged together collaboratively as an ensemble, making decisions in common and fluidly building on each other's ideas, more often than 16 middle-class European American sibling pairs, who on average more often divided decision making into a solo activity (often ignoring the other or simply bossing the other). Siblings who spent more time collaborating fluidly as an ensemble in the shared planning task were also more likely to collaborate with initiative at home, according to their mothers, which suggests that family socialization practices may contribute to cultural differences in collaboration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucía Alcalá
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064;
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834
| | - Barbara Rogoff
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064;
| | - Angélica López Fraire
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, Marymount California University, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Causal learning from joint action: Collaboration helps first graders but hinders kindergartners. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 177:166-186. [PMID: 30205299 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2018] [Revised: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether early school-aged children's causal learning from collaborative joint action differs from their learning from their own individual action or observation. Children in a joint condition performed causal interventions with an adult on two causal systems. Children in an independent condition took turns and observed an adult perform the same interventions on one system and performed the same interventions themselves on the other system. Joint action improved first graders' (n = 60) causal inference compared with individual action and observation. However, joint action impaired kindergartners' (n = 60) inference relative to individual action and observation. These findings demonstrate that joint action, as a component of collaborative activity, can help or hinder inductive causal learning depending on features of the learner. Children's abilities to learn from collaborative joint action undergo a developmental shift during the early school years.
Collapse
|
23
|
Collaboration or negotiation: two ways of interacting suggest how shared thinking develops. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 23:117-123. [PMID: 29597145 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.02.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 02/24/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where individuals join their separate ideas, or collaboration, as people mutually engage together in a unified process, as an ensemble. We argue that these paradigms are culturally based, with the negotiation model fitting within an assumption system of separate entities-an assumption system we believe to be common in psychology and in middle-class European American society-and the collaboration model fitting within a holistic worldview that appears to be common in Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas. We discuss cultural differences in children's interactions-as negotiation or collaboration-that suggest how these distinct paradigms develop.
Collapse
|
24
|
Sánchez-Amaro A, Duguid S, Call J, Tomasello M. Chimpanzees, bonobos and children successfully coordinate in conflict situations. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20170259. [PMID: 28592680 PMCID: PMC5474066 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2017] [Accepted: 05/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social animals need to coordinate with others to reap the benefits of group-living even when individuals' interests are misaligned. We compare how chimpanzees, bonobos and children coordinate their actions with a conspecific in a Snowdrift game, which provides a model for understanding how organisms coordinate and make decisions under conflict. In study 1, we presented pairs of chimpanzees, bonobos and children with an unequal reward distribution. In the critical condition, the preferred reward could only be obtained by waiting for the partner to act, with the risk that if no one acted, both would lose the rewards. Apes and children successfully coordinated to obtain the rewards. Children used a 'both-partner-pull' strategy and communicated during the task, while some apes relied on an 'only-one-partner-pulls' strategy to solve the task, although there were also signs of strategic behaviour as they waited for their partner to pull when that strategy led to the preferred reward. In study 2, we presented pairs of chimpanzees and bonobos with the same set-up as in study 1 with the addition of a non-social option that provided them with a secure reward. In this situation, apes had to actively decide between the unequal distribution and the alternative. In this set-up, apes maximized their rewards by taking their partners' potential actions into account. In conclusion, children and apes showed clear instances of strategic decision-making to maximize their own rewards while maintaining successful coordination.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Sánchez-Amaro
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Shona Duguid
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Josep Call
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, USA
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Huyder V, Nilsen ES, Bacso SA. The relationship between children's executive functioning, theory of mind, and verbal skills with their own and others' behaviour in a cooperative context: Changes in relations from early to middle school-age. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Huyder
- Centre for Mental Health Research, Department of Psychology; University of Waterloo; Waterloo Ontario Canada
| | - Elizabeth S. Nilsen
- Centre for Mental Health Research, Department of Psychology; University of Waterloo; Waterloo Ontario Canada
| | - Sarah A. Bacso
- Centre for Mental Health Research, Department of Psychology; University of Waterloo; Waterloo Ontario Canada
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Migliano AB, Page AE, Gómez-Gardeñes J, Salali GD, Viguier S, Dyble M, Thompson J, Chaudhary N, Smith D, Strods J, Mace R, Thomas MG, Latora V, Vinicius L. Characterization of hunter-gatherer networks and implications for cumulative culture. Nat Hum Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
|
27
|
|
28
|
Meyer M, van der Wel RPRD, Hunnius S. Planning my actions to accommodate yours: joint action development during early childhood. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150371. [PMID: 27069048 PMCID: PMC4843609 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The planning and adjusting of one's actions in relation to an action partner is fundamental to smooth joint action. During their first years of life, children gradually become more engaged in joint actions. Here, we investigated whether and at what age children take their partner into account in their action plans to accommodate the other's actions. We focused on children's proactive planning (without prior experience) and flexible adjustment of action plans over time. In a behavioural study, we tested 96 children from four age groups (2½, 3, 3½ and 5 years) in a joint cup-stacking task. Children passed cups to their partner who had only one hand available (alternating over time) to build a tower. Children's response choices were assessed (i.e. passing the cup on the free or occupied side to their partner). The study yielded two major findings. At all ages, children proactively planned their actions in a way that accommodated their partner's actions. However, only by 3½ years did children start to flexibly integrate their partner into their action plans. Even at age 5, children only showed minimal adjustments to their action partner. Candidate processes underlying these developmental changes (e.g. inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, perspective taking) are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Meyer
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Komolova M, Pasupathi M, Wainryb C, Lucas S. Children’s and adolescents’ conceptions of personhood. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/0165025415627701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Children’s and adolescents’ narratives of interpersonal experiences can inform our understanding of developmental shifts in the use of personhood concepts. We present results from two studies ( ns = 90, 112) with children aged five to 16 years. In the first study, children were asked to describe one positive and another negative experience with a friend, and in the second study, to describe a time when they were a victim and another time when they were a perpetrator of harm. Across both studies, results supported previous findings suggesting that psychological, relational, trait, and identity personhood conceptions become more prominent with age, whereas activity, physical, and material conceptions become less prominent with age. However, our results also revealed that, within the context of real-life experiences, psychological conceptions become evident at earlier ages than suggested by children’s responses to the structured tasks employed in previous research. In addition, we found age-related increases in the simultaneous use of psychological and relational conceptions of persons, especially in narratives of negative experiences. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for social development.
Collapse
|
30
|
Duguid S, Wyman E, Bullinger AF, Herfurth-Majstorovic K, Tomasello M. Coordination strategies of chimpanzees and human children in a Stag Hunt game. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 281:20141973. [PMID: 25320165 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.1973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Much of human cooperation takes place in mutualistic contexts in which the main challenge for individuals is how to coordinate decisions. In the current studies, we compared the abilities of chimpanzees and young children to coordinate with a partner in two versions of a Stag Hunt game. When risks were low (the hare was of low value) and information was cheap (the partner's behaviour was readily observable), partners of both species were able to successfully coordinate on the higher value stag more than 90% of the time. By contrast, when the risks were raised and observing the partner was more difficult, the chimpanzees became less successful, whereas the children compensated, and so remained highly successful, by communicating more often and more specifically. This pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that humans evolved unique skills of coordination and communication in the context of especially risky coordination problems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shona Duguid
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emily Wyman
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anke F Bullinger
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katharina Herfurth-Majstorovic
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Sebastián-Enesco C, Warneken F. The shadow of the future: 5-Year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, adjust their sharing in anticipation of reciprocation. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 129:40-54. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2014] [Revised: 08/17/2014] [Accepted: 08/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|