INFANTS' APPROACH TO LEARNING ABOUT THE PHYSICAL WORLD

描述：主要研究者提出了一个婴儿的模型， 学习物理世界，在这个世界里， 专门的学习机制，指导他们获得物理 知识 这种机制被认为负责两个过程： (1)事件类别的形成，对应于不同的方式， 哪些对象的行为，以及（2）初始概念的识别， 稍后详细说明影响每个事件类别的变量。 当 学习一个事件类别，婴儿首先形成一个初步的， 全有或全无的概念，只抓住该类别的本质。 与 随着经验的积累，这一最初的概念逐步得到阐述。 婴儿慢慢地识别与类别相关的变量， 将这些额外的知识纳入他们的推理，导致 随着时间的推移，预测越来越准确。 在过去的研究中，主要研究者一直在追求的性质， 引导婴儿形成事件类别的学习机制， 变量的识别。 她研究了不同的事件类别， 追溯并比较了它们各自的发展历程。 她还 试图"教"婴儿变量，他们还没有确定， 向他们提供相关的意见。 她计划继续这些 研究路线，以及进行一项新的研究路线， 婴儿是否能在物体操作任务中表现出 在视觉注意力任务中发现的物理知识。

DESCRIPTION: The principal investigator proposes a model of infants' learning about the physical world in which infants are born with a specialized learning mechanism that guides their acquisition of physical knowledge. This mechanism is thought to be responsible for two processes: (1) the formation of event categories that correspond to distinct ways in which objects behave, and (2) the identification of an initial concept and later on the elaboration of variables that affect each event category. When learning about an event category, infants first form a preliminary, all-or-none concept that captures only the essence of the category. With further experience, this initial concept is progressively elaborated. Infants slowly identify variables that are relevant to the category and incorporate this additional knowledge into their reasoning, resulting in increasingly accurate predictions over time. In past research the principal investigator has pursued the nature of the learning mechanism that directs infants' formation of event categories and identification of variables. She has examined different event categories to trace and compare their respective developmental courses. She has also attempted to "teach" infants variables they have not yet identified by presenting them with pertinent observations. She plans to continue these lines of research, as well as undertaking a new line of research to examine whether infants can demonstrate in object-manipulation tasks the same physical knowledge that has been uncovered in visual-attention tasks.