Do semantic contextual cues facilitate transfer learning from video in toddlers?

Abstract

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 associated with a reduction in the transfer deficit.

The Ghost in the Touchscreen: Social Scaffolds Promote Learning by Toddlers

“…Based on the transfer deficit literature, we predicted that, following a ghost demonstration on the touchscreen, children would perform better when tested on a touchscreen than a magnet board. We also predicted that 3‐year‐olds would perform significantly better than 2.5‐year‐olds, as reported in previous studies using this task (Dickerson et al., ; Moser et al., ; Zimmermann et al., ).…”

“…Many educational apps do not include social demonstrators, and instead display on‐screen objects that move by themselves. Young children demonstrate a transfer deficit , consistently learning fewer actions when they have to transfer learning from television and touchscreens to real‐world objects, compared to when no transfer is required (Dickerson, Gerhardstein, Zack, & Barr, ; Moser, Zimmermann, Grenell, Barr, & Gerhardstein, ; Zack, Barr, Gerhardstein, Dickerson, & Meltzoff, ; Zack, Gerhardstein, Meltzoff, & Barr, ; Zimmermann et al., ). Barnett and Ceci () define transfer as the application of information to a situation distinctly different from the condition in which it was learned and can be applied to conditions changing from 2D to 3D.…”

All the Right Noises: Background Variability Helps Early Word Learning

“…While the debate as to the mechanisms underlying children's word learning goes on, it is clear that memory and language are linked from very early in development (Taylor, Liu, & Herbert, ; Zimmermann et al., ). In particular, learning a new word depends critically on children's ability to form and retain word‐object associations.…”

How self‐generated labelling shapes transfer of learning during early childhood: The role of individual differences

“…The current secondary data analyses included data drawn from five previously published studies using the puzzle imitation task (see Table ; Barr et al ., ; Dickerson et al ., ; Moser et al ., ; Zimmermann et al ., , ). A total of 355 (182 girls) typically developing 2‐, 2.5‐, and 3‐year‐olds (from two metropolitan areas) were included in the sample analysed in the secondary data analyses.…”

“…The puzzle imitation task was developed to examine factors affecting transfer of learning from screen media. This task involved construction of a 3‐piece magnetic or virtual puzzle that formed either a ‘fish’ or a ‘boat’ (Barr et al ., ; Dickerson et al ., ; Moser et al ., ; Zimmermann et al ., , ; for review see Hipp et al ., ). Across different studies, this puzzle task has been demonstrated for 2‐ to 3‐year‐olds via video, on a touchscreen with 2D virtual puzzle pieces, and on a magnet board using 3D magnet pieces.…”