Watch and Learn: Mapping the Behavioural and Neural Profile of Observational Learning Throughout the Lifespan

作为人类，我们在社会世界中生存的能力是通过观察他人来学习的。因此，当学习像系鞋带这样简单的任务时，或者像做心脏手术这样复杂的任务时，我们从童年到老年都是通过观察来学习的。许多来自行为科学和脑科学的研究人员认为，观察学习和物理学习具有共同的特征。目前尚不清楚的是，在整个生命周期中，我们的大脑和行为在通过观察进行学习时会发生怎样的变化，以及年龄如何影响观察学习的效果。为了解决这些问题，我测量了观察学习对儿童，年轻人和老年人行为和大脑活动的影响。最终目标是开发一种识别与观察学习成功相关的因素的方法，这反过来又会为教育和治疗环境中使用的基于观察的干预措施提供信息。“观察和学习”项目将为我们的知识做出什么贡献？关于我们如何通过观察学习的问题吸引了从教育到心理学再到医学的研究人员和实践者的关注。然而，目前还不可能直接比较大脑和行为如何受到观察与物理学习的影响。这是由于传统的认知神经科学方法的局限性，缺乏检测大脑如何表示通过观察或身体练习学习的新信息的细微差异所需的灵敏度和复杂性。只有通过将先进的神经科学技术与针对不同年龄组的行为训练程序相结合，才有可能（1）明确解决观察学习如何影响整个生命周期的大脑和行为，以及（2）探索在个人基础上检测观察学习效果的可能性。“观察和学习”项目将如何阐明我们如何通过观察学习我们的生活该项目包括3项研究，每项研究使用相同的程序，不同的年龄组（S1-年轻人，S2-儿童，S3-老年人）。每项研究都有一个训练部分和一个评估观察性学习成功的个体预测因素的部分。在第一部分中，参与者通过身体练习或观察来学习简单的舞蹈序列。每天测量表现，并在训练过程中的3个点测量参与者的大脑活动。通过多变量分析的创新应用，我将测量大脑如何代表通过观察与物理实践学到的信息。研究结果将为这两种学习如何影响大脑和不同生命阶段的行为提供新的模型。在每项研究的第二部分，我重新评估了个体参与者的大脑和行为数据，旨在在早期学习阶段确定谁可能从观察中受益最多。这种新颖的方法代表了第一次尝试考虑一个人丰富而复杂的学习数据的各个方面，以更好地理解和预测每个人对观察训练的反应。谁受益？“观察和学习”项目最直接的意义是更好地理解我们如何将视觉信息转化为从童年到老年的身体技能。更广泛地说，那些教授或康复运动技能的人将从该项目的研究结果中受益，他们将更好地理解观察学习与物理学习在行为表现以及不同年龄的个人通过观察学习的速度和效率方面的比较。外联和知识交流活动的对象是公众以及在学校和医院教授体育技能的教育工作者，目的是根据该项目的结果优化观察方法。

As humans, our ability to survive within a social world is facilitated by learning through observing others. As such, when learning tasks as simple as tying one's shoes or as complex as performing heart surgery, we learn by watching from childhood through to old age. Many researchers from the behavioural and brain sciences suggest that observational and physical learning share common features. What remains unknown is how our brains and behaviour change when learning by observation across the lifespan, as well as how age impacts the efficacy of observational learning. To address these questions, I measure the impact of observational learning on behaviour and brain activity among children, young adults, and older adults. The ultimate aim is to develop a means of identifying factors associated with observational learning success, which in turn will inform observation-based interventions used in education and therapeutic contexts. What will the 'Watch and Learn' project contribute to our knowledge?Questions concerning how we learn by observation attract attention from researchers and practitioners ranging from education to psychology to medicine. However, it has not yet been possible to directly compare how the brain and behaviour are impacted by observational compared to physical learning. This is due to limitations in traditional cognitive neuroscience approaches that lack the sensitivity and sophistication required to detect subtle differences in how the brain represents new information learned by observation or physical practice. Only through the innovative combination of advanced neuroscientific techniques with behavioural training procedures targeting different age groups is it possible to (1) definitively address how observational learning impacts the brain and behaviour throughout the lifespan and (2) explore possibilities for detecting the efficacy of observational learning on an individual basis.How will the 'Watch and Learn' project illuminate how we learn by observation throughout our lives?The project comprises 3 studies, each using the same procedures with a different age group (S1-young adults, S2-children, S3-older adults). Each study features a training part and a part that evaluates individual predictors of observational learning success. In Part 1, participants learn simple dance sequences by physical practice or observation. Performance is measured daily and participants' brain activity is measured at 3 points in the training process. Through the innovative application of multivariate analyses, I will measure how the brain represents information learned by observation vs physical practice. The results will inform a new model of how both kinds of learning impact the brain and behaviour at different life stages. In Part 2 of each study, I re-evaluate individual participants' brain and behavioural data, aiming to identify at an early learning stage who is likely to benefit most from observation. This novel approach represents the first attempt to consider all aspects of a person's rich and complex learning data to better understand and predict how each individual may respond to observational training.What are the implications of this research? Who benefits?The most direct implication of the 'Watch and Learn' project is a better understanding of how we transform visual information into physical skills from childhood to advanced age. More broadly, those who teach or rehabilitate motor skills stand to benefit from the project's findings through an improved understanding of how observational learning compares to physical learning in terms of behavioural performance and the speed and efficacy with which individuals of different ages may be expected to learn by observation. Outreach and knowledge exchange activities are targeted at the public as well as educators who teach physical skills in schools and hospitals, with the aim to optimize observational approaches based on the results of this project.