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Transfer or no transfer: the key role of learning specificity
During development, infants garner knowledge about their environment and their own body through explorative behaviours mediated by changing motilities. A key question regards infants ability to transfer knowledge between these various motilities. There is currently little consensus in the literature. In depth perception studies, for example, Adolph showed that knowledge amassed while sitting does not appear to transfer to crawling, and that information collected during crawling does not transfer to walking. In contrast, Witherington and colleagues reported findings suggesting that there is transfer from crawling to walking. Here, we attempt to reconcile the two findings by suggest- ing, with a simulation, that a key experimental difference could explain the disparity between these studies. The results suggest that an infant lacking transfer between motilities, as suggested by Adolph, can behave in ways consistent with the findings of Witherington and colleagues, and an empirical prediction is derived that could be tested in real experiments. This study highlights the potential importance of learning specificity in development, a concept that could have important implications for developmental robotics.
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Publication status
- Published
Journal
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Epigenetic RoboticsPublisher
Lund University Cognitive StudiesPublisher URL
Volume
149Pages
8.0Event name
10th International Conference on Epigenetic RoboticsEvent location
Örenäs Slott, SwedenEvent type
conferenceEvent date
5-7 November 2010ISBN
978919773809Department affiliated with
- Informatics Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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