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Luo Y, vanMarle K, Groh AM. The Cognitive Architecture of Infant Attachment. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2024:17456916241262693. [PMID: 39186195 DOI: 10.1177/17456916241262693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/27/2024]
Abstract
Meta-analytic evidence indicates that the quality of the attachment relationship that infants establish with their primary caregiver has enduring significance for socioemotional and cognitive outcomes. However, the mechanisms by which early attachment experiences contribute to subsequent development remain underspecified. According to attachment theory, early attachment experiences become embodied in the form of cognitive-affective representations, referred to as internal working models (IWMs), that guide future behavior. Little is known, however, about the cognitive architecture of IWMs in infancy. In this article, we discuss significant advances made in the field of infant cognitive development and propose that leveraging insights from this research has the potential to fundamentally shape our understanding of the cognitive architecture of attachment representations in infancy. We also propose that the integration of attachment research into cognitive research can shed light on the role of early experiences, individual differences, and stability and change in infant cognition, as well as open new routes of investigation in cognitive studies, which will further our understanding of human knowledge. We provide recommendations for future research throughout the article and conclude by using our collaborative research as an example.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyan Luo
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
| | - Kristy vanMarle
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
| | - Ashley M Groh
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
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Schmid B, Bleijlevens N, Mani N, Behne T. The cognitive underpinnings and early development of children's selective trust. Child Dev 2024; 95:1315-1332. [PMID: 38294284 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
Young children learn selectively from reliable over unreliable sources. However, the cognitive underpinnings of their selectivity (attentional biases or trait ascriptions) and its early ontogeny are unclear. Thus, across three studies (N = 139, monolingual German speakers, 67 female), selective-trust tasks were adapted to test both preschoolers (5-year-olds) and toddlers (24-month-olds), using eye-tracking and interactive measures. These data show that preschoolers' selectivity is not based on attentional biases, but on person-specific trait ascriptions. In contrast, toddlers showed no selective trust, even in the eye-tracking tasks. They succeeded, however, in eye-tracking tasks with the same word-learning demands, if no ascriptions of reliability were required. Thus, these findings suggest that preschoolers, but not toddlers, use trait-like ascriptions of reliability to guide their selective learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Schmid
- Developmental Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
| | - Natalie Bleijlevens
- Developmental Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nivedita Mani
- Leibniz Science Campus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
- Psychology of Language, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Tanya Behne
- Developmental Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
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Li PH, DeAngelis ER, Glaspie N, Koenig MA. The Collaborative Nature of Testimonial Learning. Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:241-256. [PMID: 37961035 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12707] [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: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Children's testimonial learning often occurs in epistemic collaborations with others. In this paper, we will discuss ways in which cultural learning emerges in social and interpersonal contexts, and is intrinsically supported and guided by children's collaborative capacities. Much work in cultural learning has focused on children's examination of speaker and model characteristics, but more recent research has investigated the interactive aspects of testimonial exchanges. We will review evidence that children (1) participate in the interpersonal commitments that are shared in testimonial transactions by way of direct address and epistemic buck passing, (2) participate in social groups that affect their selective learning in nuanced ways, and (3) may detect epistemic harms by listeners who refuse to believe sincere and accurate speakers. Implications for conceptualizing children's testimonial learning as an interactive mechanism of collaboration will be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pearl Han Li
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
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Finiasz Z, Gelman SA, Kushnir T. Testimony and observation of statistical evidence interact in adults' and children's category-based induction. Cognition 2024; 244:105707. [PMID: 38176153 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Hearing generic or other kind-relevant claims can influence the use of information from direct observations in category learning. In the current study, we ask how both adults and children integrate their observations with testimony when learning about the causal property of a novel category. Participants were randomly assigned to hear one of four types of testimony: generic, quantified "all", specific, or only labels. In Study 1, adults (N = 1249) then observed that some proportion of objects (10%-100%) possessed a causal property. In Study 2, children (N = 123, Mage = 5.06 years, SD = 0.61 years, range 4.01-5.99 years) observed a sample where 30% of the objects had the causal property. Generic and quantified "all" claims led both adults and children to generalize the causal property beyond what was observed. Adults and children diverged, however, in their overall trust in testimony that could be verified by observations: adults were more skeptical of inaccurate quantified claims, whereas children were more accepting. Additional memory probes suggest that children's trust in unverified claims may have been due to misremembering what they saw in favor of what they heard. The current findings demonstrate that both child and adult learners integrate information from both sources, offering insights into the mechanisms by which language frames first-hand experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoe Finiasz
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Box 90086, Durham, NC 27708, United States of America.
| | - Susan A Gelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States of America.
| | - Tamar Kushnir
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Box 90086, Durham, NC 27708, United States of America.
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Dutemple E, Hakimi H, Poulin-Dubois D. Do I know what they know? Linking metacognition, theory of mind, and selective social learning. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105572. [PMID: 36371850 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105572] [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: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Young children are often dependent on learning from others and to this effect develop heuristics to help distinguish reliable sources from unreliable sources. Where younger children rely heavily on social cues such as familiarity with a source to make this distinction, older children tend to rely more on an informant's competence. Little is known about the cognitive mechanisms that help children to select the best informant; however, some evidence points toward mechanisms such as metacognition (thinking about thinking) and theory of mind (thinking about other's thoughts) being involved. The goals of the current study were to (a) explore how the monitoring and control components of metacognition may predict selective social learning in preschoolers and (b) attempt to replicate a reported link between selective social learning and theory of mind. In Experiment 1, no relationship was observed across the measures. In Experiment 2, only selective social learning and belief reasoning were found to be related as well as when both experiments' samples were combined. No links between selective social learning and metacognition were observed in the two experiments. These results suggest that theory of mind is a stronger correlate of selective learning than metacognition in young children. The implications regarding the kind of tasks used to measure metacognition are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Dutemple
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada.
| | - Hanifa Hakimi
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada
| | - Diane Poulin-Dubois
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada
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Infants' selective imitation of a transitive agent and an intransitive agent. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 224:105517. [PMID: 35932639 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105517] [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: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
This study examined how the reliability (i.e., transitivity) of an agent's object choices affects 16-month-old infants' (N = 48) imitation of her unconventional way of turning on a touch light box with her head when her hands were available. When the agent made transitive choices (i.e., she chose Object A over Object B, Object B over Object C, and then A over C), infants imitated her head touch actions. When the agent made intransitive choices (i.e., after choosing A over B and B over C, she chose C over A), infants were more likely to use only their hands to touch the light box. In addition, when it was presumably difficult for infants to judge the transitivity of the agent's choices (i.e., she chose B over C, A over B, and then A over C), they used their hands more. These results demonstrate that infants' understanding informs their decisions to selectively imitate others' specific ways to act on novel artifacts, consistent with young children's selective trust in information provided by other people based on their epistemic reliability.
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Dautriche I, Goupil L, Smith K, Rabagliati H. Two-Year-Olds' Eye Movements Reflect Confidence in Their Understanding of Words. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1842-1856. [PMID: 36126649 DOI: 10.1177/09567976221105208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We studied the fundamental issue of whether children evaluate the reliability of their language interpretation, that is, their confidence in understanding words. In two experiments, 2-year-olds (Experiment 1: N = 50; Experiment 2: N = 60) saw two objects and heard one of them being named; both objects were then hidden behind screens and children were asked to look toward the named object, which was eventually revealed. When children knew the label used, they showed increased postdecision persistence after a correct compared with an incorrect anticipatory look, a marker of confidence in word comprehension (Experiment 1). When interacting with an unreliable speaker, children showed accurate word comprehension but reduced confidence in the accuracy of their own choice, indicating that children's confidence estimates are influenced by social information (Experiment 2). Thus, by the age of 2 years, children can estimate their confidence during language comprehension, long before they can talk about their linguistic skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle Dautriche
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).,Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS
| | - Louise Goupil
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS.,Department of Psychology, University of East London
| | - Kenny Smith
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh
| | - Hugh Rabagliati
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh
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Dautriche I, Goupil L, Smith K, Rabagliati H. Knowing How You Know: Toddlers Reevaluate Words Learned From an Unreliable Speaker. Open Mind (Camb) 2021; 5:1-19. [PMID: 34485794 PMCID: PMC8412199 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
There has been little investigation of the way source monitoring, the ability to track the source of one's knowledge, may be involved in lexical acquisition. In two experiments, we tested whether toddlers (mean age 30 months) can monitor the source of their lexical knowledge and reevaluate their implicit belief about a word mapping when this source is proven to be unreliable. Experiment 1 replicated previous research (Koenig & Woodward, 2010): children displayed better performance in a word learning test when they learned words from a speaker who has previously revealed themself as reliable (correctly labeling familiar objects) as opposed to an unreliable labeler (incorrectly labeling familiar objects). Experiment 2 then provided the critical test for source monitoring: children first learned novel words from a speaker before watching that speaker labeling familiar objects correctly or incorrectly. Children who were exposed to the reliable speaker were significantly more likely to endorse the word mappings taught by the speaker than children who were exposed to a speaker who they later discovered was an unreliable labeler. Thus, young children can reevaluate recently learned word mappings upon discovering that the source of their knowledge is unreliable. This suggests that children can monitor the source of their knowledge in order to decide whether that knowledge is justified, even at an age where they are not credited with the ability to verbally report how they have come to know what they know.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle Dautriche
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Louise Goupil
- School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
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Crivello C, Grossman S, Poulin-Dubois D. Specifying links between infants' theory of mind, associative learning, and selective trust. INFANCY 2021; 26:664-685. [PMID: 34043285 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Revised: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The psychological mechanisms underlying infants' selective social learning are currently a subject of controversy. The main goal of the present study was to contribute data to this debate by investigating whether domain-specific or domain-general abilities guide infants' selectivity. Eighteen-month-olds observed a reliable and an unreliable speaker, and then completed a forced-choice word learning paradigm, two theory of mind tasks, and an associative learning task. Results revealed that infants showed sensitivity to the verbal competence of the speaker. Additionally, infants with superior knowledge inference abilities were less likely to learn from the unreliable speaker. No link was observed between selective social learning and associative learning skills. These results replicate and extend previous findings demonstrating that socio-cognitive abilities are linked to infants' selective social learning.
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Baer C, Malik P, Odic D. Are children's judgments of another's accuracy linked to their metacognitive confidence judgments? METACOGNITION AND LEARNING 2021; 16:485-516. [PMID: 34720771 PMCID: PMC8550463 DOI: 10.1007/s11409-021-09263-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/07/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The world can be a confusing place, which leads to a significant challenge: how do we figure out what is true? To accomplish this, children possess two relevant skills: reasoning about the likelihood of their own accuracy (metacognitive confidence) and reasoning about the likelihood of others' accuracy (mindreading). Guided by Signal Detection Theory and Simulation Theory, we examine whether these two self- and other-oriented skills are one in the same, relying on a single cognitive process. Specifically, Signal Detection Theory proposes that confidence in a decision is purely derived from the imprecision of that decision, predicting a tight correlation between decision accuracy and confidence. Simulation Theory further proposes that children attribute their own cognitive experience to others when reasoning socially. Together, these theories predict that children's self and other reasoning should be highly correlated and dependent on decision accuracy. In four studies (N = 374), children aged 4-7 completed a confidence reasoning task and selective social learning task each designed to eliminate confounding language and response biases, enabling us to isolate the unique correlation between self and other reasoning. However, in three of the four studies, we did not find that individual differences on the two tasks correlated, nor that decision accuracy explained performance. These findings suggest self and other reasoning are either independent in childhood, or the result of a single process that operates differently for self and others. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11409-021-09263-x.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn Baer
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way West, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | - Puja Malik
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
| | - Darko Odic
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
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