Surprising actions can induce learning in babies, study
Posted on: 04/Apr/2015 5:54:56 PM
According to recent researches, it is found that babies are attracted more towards things and actions that surprise them rather than the ones that are predictable. On conducting experiments on babies, earlier, it was found that they pay attention for longer period when the find surprising elements and sequence of events happening, but the attention was not the same in case of cognitive consequences of events, say researchers.
According to cognitive psychologist Aimee Stahl of Baltimore`s Johns Hopkins University, infants make use of surprising events as exclusive opportunities to learn. The study involved babies of 11 month old babies with equal number of boys and girls. They were made to watch several demonstrations and observations like rolling of a ball over a wall or hovering it in the air, etc. Babies are adept in learning. These babies learned new information out of unexpected happenings and actions. Objects that behave surprisingly attract them and induce them to explore more. They in fact seek for explanation for the unexpected outcome. For example, babies who look at a ball rolling a wall wanted to examine its solidity by banging it on any solid space.
