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

作为人类，我们在社交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或像做心脏手术这样复杂的任务时，我们从小到大都在观察中学习。许多来自行为科学和脑科学的研究人员认为，观察性学习和身体学习有共同的特征。尚不清楚的是，在一生中通过观察学习时，我们的大脑和行为会发生怎样的变化，以及年龄如何影响观察性学习的效果。为了解决这些问题，我测量了观察性学习对儿童、年轻人和老年人行为和大脑活动的影响。最终目的是开发一种确定与观察性学习成功相关的因素的方法，这反过来将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”项目将对我们的知识有什么贡献？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注意。然而，与物理学习相比，还不可能直接比较观察性学习对大脑和行为的影响。这是由于传统认知神经科学方法的局限性，缺乏检测大脑如何代表通过观察或物理实践学到的新信息的细微差异所需的敏感度和复杂性。只有通过先进的神经科学技术和针对不同年龄段的行为训练程序的创新结合，才有可能(1)明确地解决观察性学习如何影响大脑和一生中的行为，以及(2)探索在个体基础上检测观察性学习的有效性的可能性。“观察和学习”项目将如何解释我们如何在一生中通过观察学习？该项目包括3项研究，每项研究对不同年龄段的人(S1-年轻人，S2-儿童，S3-老年人)使用相同的程序。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。每天都会测量表现，在训练过程中，参与者的大脑活动会在三个时间点进行测量。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。这一结果将提供一个新的模型，说明这两种学习方式如何影响不同生命阶段的大脑和行为。在每项研究的第二部分，我会重新评估个别参与者的大脑和行为数据，目的是在早期学习阶段确定谁可能从观察中受益最大。这一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所有方面，以更好地理解和预测每个人对观察训练的反应。这项研究的意义是什么？谁受益？“观察和学习”项目最直接的含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，那些教授或恢复运动技能的人将从该项目的发现中受益，因为他们更好地理解了观察性学习与物理学习在行为表现方面的比较，以及不同年龄段的人通过观察学习的速度和效率。外联和知识交流活动针对的是公众以及在学校和医院教授身体技能的教育工作者，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.