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The impact of memory load and perceptual cues on puzzle learning by 24‐month olds
Author(s) -
Barr Rachel,
Moser Alecia,
Rusnak Sylvia,
Zimmermann Laura,
Dickerson Kelly,
Lee Herietta,
Gerhardstein Peter
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21450
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , cognitive psychology , imitation , context (archaeology) , cognition , developmental psychology , perceptual learning , motor skill , communication , social psychology , neuroscience , paleontology , biology
Early childhood is characterized by memory capacity limitations and rapid perceptual and motor development [Rovee‐Collier (1996). Infant Behavior & Development , 19, 385–400]. The present study examined 2‐year olds’ reproduction of a sliding action to complete an abstract fish puzzle under different levels of memory load and perceptual feature support. Experimental groups were compared to baseline controls to assess spontaneous rates of production of the target actions; baseline production was low across all experiments. Memory load was manipulated in Exp. 1 by adding pieces to the puzzle, increasing sequence length from 2 to 3 items, and to 3 items plus a distractor. Although memory load did not influence how toddlers learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces, it did influence toddlers’ achievement of the goal—constructing the fish. Overall, girls were better at constructing the puzzle than boys. In Exp. 2, the perceptual features of the puzzle were altered by changing shape boundaries to create a two‐piece horizontally cut puzzle (displaying bilateral symmetry), and by adding a semantically supportive context to the vertically cut puzzle (iconic). Toddlers were able to achieve the goal of building the fish equally well across the 2‐item puzzle types (bilateral symmetry, vertical, iconic), but how they learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces varied as a function of the perceptual features. Here, as in Exp. 1, girls showed a different pattern of performance from the boys. This study demonstrates that changes in memory capacity and perceptual processing influence both goal‐directed imitation learning and motoric performance.