Elsner, C., & Wertz, A. E. (2019). The seeds of social learning: Infants exhibit more social looking for plants than other object types. Cognition, 183, 244-255.

Question 1

study objective:

Answer 1

To examine whether infants differentially direct their gaze towards adults when encountering plants compared to other object types.

Question 2

theoretical background:

Answer 2

Plants have been fundamental to human survival throughout evolutionary history.
Learning about beneficial and dangerous plants is crucial and best achieved through social learning.
Humans may have evolved social learning mechanisms specific to plants

Question 3

methodology:

Answer 3

• Participants: 42 healthy, full-term infants aged 8-18 months
• Object exploration paradigm with five object types: real plants, artificial plants, novel artifacts, familiar artifacts, and natural objects
• Two sessions: objects presented within reach and out of reach
• Measured number and length of infants’ social looks (defined as looks to an adult immediately following a look to a stimulus object)

Question 4

key findings

Answer 4

• Infants exhibited more social looking toward adults when confronted with plants compared to other object types.
• Increased social looking for plants occurred when infants first encountered them, before touching.
• This plant-specific social looking behavior was observed in both the within-reach and out-of-reach conditions.

Question 5

implications

Answer 5

• The social looking strategy for plants puts infants in the best position to gain information from others before making contact with potentially dangerous plants.
• This behavior suggests the existence of evolved social learning mechanisms specific to plants.
• The findings provide a new perspective on infants’ social information-seeking behavior.