Learning by imitation: A hierarchical approach
Learning by imitation: A hierarchical approach
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DOI：
10.1017/s0140525x98001745
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发表时间：
1998-10-01
影响因子：
29.3
通讯作者：
Russon, AE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Byrne, RW;Russon, AE
为了在不引入复杂的模仿认知概念的情况下解释社会学习，人们提出了许多学习机制。借用认知心理学中常用的一个观点，我们认为，这些选择中的大多数都可以归入一个单一的过程，即启动，在这个过程中，输入增加了存储的内部表征的激活。模仿本身通常被视为一种“特殊的能力”，这使得许多研究转向了一个全有或全无的问题，即动物是否会模仿，结果令人失望地没有定论。然而，在类人猿中，自愿学习行为是按等级组织的。这意味着模仿可以发生在不同的层面，我们从中挑选出两个明显不同的层面：“行动层面”，对连续行为的相当详细和线性的说明，以及“程序层面”，对子程序结构和行为“程序”的层次布局的更广泛的描述。程序级模仿是一种高级的、建设性的机制，适合于复杂技能的有效学习，因此在实验室中用于模仿测试的简单操作中并不明显。作为例子，我们描述了野生山地大猩猩的食物制备技术和猩猩在“康复”到野外的模仿行为。表示和操作对象之间的关系似乎是其分层程序中的一个基本组成部分。有证据表明，类人猿在规划的层次深度方面比人类受到更严格的能力限制。我们重新解释了一些黑猩猩之前被描述为“模仿”的行为，并提出所有的类人猿都可能在程序层面上进行模仿。动作级模仿在类人猿的技能学习中很少观察到，甚至在人类中也可能有很大的社会作用。
To explain social learning without invoking the cognitively complex concept of imitation, many learning mechanisms have been proposed. Borrowing an idea used routinely in cognitive psychology, we argue that most of these alternatives can be subsumed under a single process, priming, in which input increases the activation of stored internal representations. Imitation itself has generally been seen as a "speciaI faculty" This has diverted much research towards the all-or-none question of whether an animal can imitate, with disappointingly inconclusive results. In the great apes, however, voluntary learned behaviour is organized hierarchically. This means that imitation can occur at various levers, of which we single out two clearly distinct ones: the "action level," a rather detailed and linear specification of sequential acts, and the "program level," a broader description of subroutine structure and the hierarchical layout of a behavioural "program." Program level imitation is a high-level, constructive mechanism, adapted for the efficient learning of complex skills and thus not evident in the simple manipulations used to test for imitation in the laboratory. As examples, we describe the food preparation techniques of wild mountain gorillas and the imitative behaviour of orangutans undergoing "rehabilitation" to the wild. Representing and manipulating relations between objects seems to be one basic building block in their hierarchical programs. There is evidence that great apes suffer from a stricter capacity limit than humans in the hierarchical depth of planning. We re-interpret some chimpanzee behaviour previously described as "emulation" and suggest that all great apes may be able to imitate at the program level. Action level imitation is seldom observed in great ape skill learning, and may have a largely social role, even in humans.