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Children perseverate to a human's actions but not to a robot's actions
Author(s) -
Moriguchi Yusuke,
Kanda Takayuki,
Ishiguro Hiroshi,
Itakura Shoji
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00860.x
Subject(s) - psychology , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , commit , developmental psychology , cognition , card sorting , social psychology , management , database , neuroscience , computer science , economics
Previous research has shown that young children commit perseverative errors from their observation of another person’s actions. The present study examined how social observation would lead children to perseverative tendencies, using a robot. In Experiment 1, preschoolers watched either a human model or a robot sorting cards according to one dimension (e.g. shape), after which they were asked to sort according to a different dimension (e.g. colour). The results showed that children’s behaviours in the task were significantly influenced by the human model’s actions but not by the robot’s actions. Experiment 2 excluded the possibility that children’s behaviours were not affected by the robot’s actions because they did not observe its actions. We concluded that children’s perseverative errors from social observation resulted, in part, from their socio‐cognitive ability.