| Abstract: | 受到比較心理學的研究概念和方法影響，發展心理學家逐漸對兒童時期不同的社會學習機制感到興趣，過去用於探討動物社會學習的實驗技術開始被用來研究兒童早期的社會學習。本計畫企圖探討嬰兒在社會學習情境下解讀動作的能力，特別是在無人示範情境下（’ghost’condition）自行移動的物體。’ghost’condition 引發的社會學習可被視為仿效學習的一種簡單形式，如物體運動重演或物體效應學習。在’ghost’condition 中，有關人類意圖的資訊(如人的外觀特徵和身體運動)已被預先排除，但另一個認知解釋的可能性尚未被排除。目的論表徵理論認為嬰兒能使用多重行為線索去辨認動作者與行為目的(如：物體自行推進、行為變異、附帶反應與動作效果等線索)，因此本計畫擬以此項理論為基礎，探討嬰兒在’ghost’ condition 中是否學習到這些與行為目標有關的線索，非單純地學習物體效應，而是採取目的論立場解釋自行移動的物體。在系列的四個實驗中，本計畫系統性地評估物體效應偵測與目的論推理的相對影響。實驗一呈現一個違反物理定律但較有效率的動作，探討16-18 個月的嬰兒能否對此動作進行目標歸因並模仿動作結果，如果模仿與目標導向的歸因有關，則會產生負向結果；相對地，如果模仿較依賴物體效應偵測，則嬰兒的模仿表現不受影響。在實驗一的基礎下，實驗二進一步的評估動作效率線索對嬰兒模仿行為的影響；實驗三評估注意力需求增加時，是否影響嬰兒採取目的論立場解釋動作者的行為；實驗四檢驗當嬰兒了解部份動作情境後，動作效率評估是否影響他們仿效未曾見過的行為。本計畫的發現具有重要的研究和教育意義，針對早期社會學習中，嬰兒將動作解讀為目標導引的能力，研究者能有更深入的認識，此能力在發展社會認知神經科學中已是一個重要的研究議題。臨床工作者和老師也能在解決問題情境中教導幼兒目的論分析的技能，或者設計更有效的介入策略，促進幼兒對動作目標的理解(如透過彰顯工具的物體效應或是增加多樣性的行為線索)。
Influenced by the conceptual and methodological framework developed within the comparative sciences, a growing body of developmental research has been increasingly interested in identifying different social learning mechanisms during childhood. The experimental techniques used to dissect social learning in nonhuman animals have been adapted to the study of human children. This project investigates infants’ understanding of actions in a social learning context. Specifically, the ‘ghost’ condition, in which the movements of an object are displayed without a conspecific or human model acting on the object, is evaluated. The success in the ‘ghost’ condition has been interpreted as simple forms of emulation learning such as object movement reenactment or affordance learning. Although the ‘ghost’ display precludes social information (e.g. human surface features and bodily movements) supporting inferences about human intentions, there is yet another cognitive explanation. The teleological representation system theory argues that infants use a range of behavioral cues (such as self-propulsion, equifinal variation, contingent reactivity, and action efficiency) to identify agents and goal-directedness. Therefore, the aim of the project is to investigate the extent to which the capability of infants to learn from a ‘ghost’ model is due, not to affordance learning, but to a proclivity for teleological interpretation. In a series of four experiments, the relative influences of affordance detection and teleological understanding are systematically examined. Experiment 1 looks at whether 16 to 18-month-old infants would imitatively attribute a goal to an action that cannot be justified as an efficient means to the goal within constraints of an obstacle. If imitation is modulated by attribution of goal-directedness, the teleological representation theory predicts a negative bias. By contrast, if imitation is reliant on affordance detection, the emulation hypothesis predicts a null effect. Based on the findings of Experiment 1, Experiment 2 is designed to further delineate the role of context-sensitive behavioral cues in efficiency evaluation, and Experiment 3 is conducted to assess the effects of increased action processing demands on teleological understanding. Experiment 4 tests whether infants’ knowledge about specific aspects of the situation influences their tendency to emulate actions that they have not seen completed. The findings of this project have important research and educational implications. Researchers can gain more understanding of the role of infants’ ability to interpret actions as goal-directed in early social learning that has become a crucial issue in the developmental social cognitive neuroscience. Clinicians and teachers can also teach young children teleological analysis skills for problem solving, or devise more effective strategies to facilitate their action understanding (this can be achieved by highlighting object affordances or behavioral cues).
Ghost Condition指在無人示範的情況下，物體自行移動，此方法被用來排除非模仿的社會學習過程，如物體效應學習─從物體自然賦有的物理特性產生動作聯想，而非模仿他人示範的身體動作(Hopper, 2010)。雖然Ghost Condition預先排除瞭解人類意圖所需的身體動作訊息，目的立場論(teleological stance theory)認為嬰兒可以使用行為線索(例如：行為變異性、自我啟動的動作、動作效能等)，分辨物體的行為動因及導向目標(Biro et al., 2007)。針對物體效應學習與目的推理論的可能性，本研究使用觀看影片的情境，探討嬰兒在Ghost Condition中的模仿學習機制。實驗一比較75位17個月大的嬰兒能否對不合理的物體行為進行目標歸因，測量指標為嬰兒觀看動作影片後的模仿表現。實驗刺激包含人示範、物體示範/無障礙、物體示範/穿越障礙、物體示範/無法穿越障礙及自我發動控制等組。結果發現模仿表現有明顯的組間差異，F (4, 70) = 11.28, p < 0.001。觀看人示範、物體示範/無障礙、和物體示範/穿越障礙這三組影片的嬰兒，產生相似比率的目標動作，每一組皆優於觀看物體示範：碰撞和物體示範/自我發動控制影片的嬰兒，後兩組嬰兒的模仿表現無顯著差異。因為物體示範/無法穿越障礙影片提供較少有用的訊息(如動作結果)，嬰兒理當較不可能獲得與物體效應有關的線索，但他們顯然亦未經由目的推理而成功表徵影片中沒有呈現的結果狀態。嬰兒大約4-6個月大已瞭解固體不能彼此穿透的物理原則(Baillargeon et al., 1990)，顯而易見的，物體在物體示範/穿越障礙影片中穿透阻隔板的行為違反合理動作的原則(principle of rational action)。然而，不合理性並未因此妨礙嬰幼兒的模仿傾向。由於結果狀態和物體運動兩者最可能彰顯物體自然賦有的物理特性，上述研究發現顯示物體效應學習影響嬰兒在物體關聯情境中的模仿反應。雖然證據支持嬰兒善於利用物體效應線索，我們無法排除在物體示範/穿越障礙影片中，動作結果同時提供功能性目的，或許因此壓倒從手段-目的(means-end)角度評估動作效能的目的推論分析。
The ‘ghost‘ condition, in which an object moves without a conspecific interacting with it, has been used to test for nonimitative social learning such as affordance detection (Hopper, 2010). Although the ‘ghost‘ display precludes social information supporting inferences about human intentions, the teleological representation system theory argues that behavioral cues (such as equifinal movement, self-propulsion, and action efficiency) can be used to identify agents and goal-directedness (Biro et al., 2007). This study investigated the extent to which the tendency of infants to reproduce a ‘ghost‘ display is due, not to affordance learning, but to a proclivity for teleological interpretation. Experiment 1 looked at whether 17-month-old infants (N = 75) would imitatively attribute a goal to an act that was unjustifiable under situational constraints. Five digitally modified videos were developed. Infants observed an adult model perform the target act (Person Full-Model), or the same act carried out by a self-propelled object (Object Full-Model), or the object take the direct path by passing through a barrier standing in the middle to produce the outcome (Object Penetrating). Two additional controls were: Object Bumping, where the object bumped into and stopped at a distance from the barrier (thus not engaging in situational adjustment), and Self-propulsion Control, where the object moved by itself without interacting with any part of the other object. A significant effect of group was found in the rate of target production, F (4, 70) = 11.28, p < .001. Infants in the Person Full-Model, Object Full-Model, and Object Penetrating conditions produced the target act equally frequently, and each outperformed infants in the Object Bumping and Self-Propulsion Control conditions where no difference was found. |
