DO SEMANTIC CONTEXTUAL CUES FACILITATE TRANSFER LEARNING FROM VIDEO IN TODDLERS?

• Main Authors: Laura eZimmermann, Alecia eMoser, Amanda eGrenell, Kelly eDickerson, Qianwen eYao, Peter eGerhardstein, Rachel eBarr
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: Imitation; Social learning; memory binding; context learning; transfer deficit; learning from screen media
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00561/full

Young children typically demonstrate a transfer deficit, learning less from video than live presentations. Semantically meaningful context has been demonstrated to enhance learning in young children. We examined the effect of a semantically meaningful context on toddlers’ imitation performance. Two- and 2.5-year-olds participated in a puzzle imitation task to examine learning from either a live or televised model. The model demonstrated how to assemble a three-piece puzzle to make a fish or a boat, with the puzzle demonstration occurring against a semantically meaningful background context (ocean) or a yellow background (no context). Participants in the video condition performed significantly worse than participants in the live condition, demonstrating the typical transfer deficit effect. While the context helped improve overall levels of imitation, especially for the boat puzzle, only individual differences in the ability to self-generate a stimulus label were related to a reduction in the transfer deficit.