—In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to l... more —In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to learn. They can develop solutions through learning strategies involving social learning or asocial endeavors. While evidence is emerging that children may differ individually in their propensity to adopt different learning strategies, little is known about what underlies these differences. In this article, we reflect on recent research with children , adults, and nonhuman animals regarding individual differences in learning strategies. We suggest that characteristics of children's personalities and children's positions in their social networks are pertinent to individual differences in their learning strategies. These are likely pivotal factors in the learning strategies children adopt, and thus can help us understand who copies and who innovates, an important question for cultural evolution. We also discuss how methodological issues constrain developmental researchers in this field and provide suggestions for ongoing work.
Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in enviro... more Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record
We welcome Kline's attempt to develop an overarching framework to allow m... more We welcome Kline's attempt to develop an overarching framework to allow much needed collaboration between fields in the study of teaching. While we see much utility in this enterprise, we are concerned that there is too much focus on the behavior of the teacher, without examining results or costs, and the categories within the framework are not sufficiently distinct.
This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable informati... more This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions ('innovations'). Children aged 4-9years were presented with a novel puzzle box, the Multiple-Methods Box (MMB), which offered multiple innovation opportunities to extract a reward using different tools, access points and exits. 209 children were assigned to conditions in which eight social demonstrations of a reward retrieval method were provided; each condition differed incrementally in terms of the method's efficacy (0%, 25%, 75%, and 100% success at extracting the reward). An additional 47 children were assigned to a no-demonstration control condition. Innovative reward extractions from the MMB increased with decreasing efficacy of the demonstrated method. However, imitation remained a widely used strategy irrespective of the efficacy of the method being reproduced (90% o...
—In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to l... more —In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to learn. They can develop solutions through learning strategies involving social learning or asocial endeavors. While evidence is emerging that children may differ individually in their propensity to adopt different learning strategies, little is known about what underlies these differences. In this article, we reflect on recent research with children , adults, and nonhuman animals regarding individual differences in learning strategies. We suggest that characteristics of children's personalities and children's positions in their social networks are pertinent to individual differences in their learning strategies. These are likely pivotal factors in the learning strategies children adopt, and thus can help us understand who copies and who innovates, an important question for cultural evolution. We also discuss how methodological issues constrain developmental researchers in this field and provide suggestions for ongoing work.
Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in enviro... more Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record
We welcome Kline's attempt to develop an overarching framework to allow m... more We welcome Kline's attempt to develop an overarching framework to allow much needed collaboration between fields in the study of teaching. While we see much utility in this enterprise, we are concerned that there is too much focus on the behavior of the teacher, without examining results or costs, and the categories within the framework are not sufficiently distinct.
This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable informati... more This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions ('innovations'). Children aged 4-9years were presented with a novel puzzle box, the Multiple-Methods Box (MMB), which offered multiple innovation opportunities to extract a reward using different tools, access points and exits. 209 children were assigned to conditions in which eight social demonstrations of a reward retrieval method were provided; each condition differed incrementally in terms of the method's efficacy (0%, 25%, 75%, and 100% success at extracting the reward). An additional 47 children were assigned to a no-demonstration control condition. Innovative reward extractions from the MMB increased with decreasing efficacy of the demonstrated method. However, imitation remained a widely used strategy irrespective of the efficacy of the method being reproduced (90% o...
Paper presented at the Evolution of Methodologies conference on 29th June 2016, held at The Natio... more Paper presented at the Evolution of Methodologies conference on 29th June 2016, held at The National Glass Centre in Sunderland. 80 participants gathered to consider how artists and designers are evolving practice based research at the conference funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and organised by the Northumbria- Sunderland Centre for Doctoral Training in Art and Design.
Together, we critically interrogated practice-led research methodologies across creative disciplines. We discussed the Participatory Action Research methodology and design thinking practices which have informed the work on the Designing for creativity and innovation in informal science learning project to date. (Durham University is undertaking experiments via an exhibit pod hosted in the Brain Zone at Life Science Centre in Newcastle, UK).
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Papers by Rachel Kendal
Together, we critically interrogated practice-led research methodologies across creative disciplines. We discussed the Participatory Action Research methodology and design thinking practices which have informed the work on the Designing for creativity and innovation in informal science learning project to date. (Durham University is undertaking experiments via an exhibit pod hosted in the Brain Zone at Life Science Centre in Newcastle, UK).