Infant Human Conditioning

Why is our learning different from other animals and how has this led to our cognitive development? In my first blog I talked about cultural transmission and the ratchet effect, in this blog I would like to explore the idea of early learning in infants and their conditioning to be good learners.

Tomasello states that he is unsure when learning really starts to take place in infants but he believes that there is cognitive revolution that begins with most children at around 9 months of age. I believe that children able to learn from the moment they are born and that are conditioned through positive reinforcement to be good learners, even though their sensory and nervous systems are still constantly developing as they learn to conform in their new environment. 

Children learn best in a safe and healthy environment, where they are surrounded by positive reenforcement and where there is little to no negative reenforcement. When I refer to a safe and healthy environment I am referring to a child’s environment that first meets all the basic necessities of life; shelter, food, and clothing, as well as en environment that is safe and secure and is enriched with love. Abraham Maslow, a psychology professor, places these these basic physical needs at the bottom of a pyramid to represent hierarchy of human needs with more complex needs near the top. (Abraham Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943). When these simple needs are in place, then you have an ideal environment for learning. 

It is important to establish this healthy environment for children and provide for their basic needs for healthy cognitive development. I believe these are the first steps in the beginning of a process that will condition our children to be open to learning from the moment that they are born. As caregivers we positively reinforce every action that they do, we hold them close, keep them safe, smile at them, and speak to them in a positive way, simply put, we love them. They naturally begin to look for and like our positive reinforcement of their behaviours. In the Tomasslo's book “The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition” (Page 82) he gives an example of imitative learning, in this example there are 3 year olds touching their toes before turning on a light because that is how they saw an adult do it. I think the imitating of the adult is not just learning by intimating but the 3 year olds are doing what the adult has done because they have been conditioned in our culture to expect positive reinforcement from all adults, so therefor, why would they not do exactly what the adult has done. Children want to naturally make their caregivers and other adults happy. When my daughter was an infant and was placed into new situations or met new people, she would gage my reaction to her behaviours in these situations, if I was relaxed and happy, then she was relaxed and happy. As well, young children will often repeat something that they have done that made an adult laugh, like sticking out their tongue, tickling your belling and even swearing. 

When we put baby chimps and other primates into an environment where we provide for their basic needs of life; food, shelter, and security, we can alleviate some of the stresses they may experience in the wild. Not only does this newvenvironment offer them a place where they are safe and can learn new things but they also begin to imitate human actions to make humans happy. As researchers continue to build relationships with primates, primates begin to respond to human positive reinforcement like children do, this is clear when you watch the video of Sue Savage and other researchers interacting with Bonobos. An example of positive reenforcement in the video, shows a Bonobo enthusiastically playing the xylophone for a researcher who is happily singing and dancing for him. The researcher's positive actions towards the Bonobo, leads to the Bonobo playing more jubilantly. I do the the same with my 3 year old daughter in our kitchen, she responds to my dancing and happiness, by playing her pots and pans even louder. 

To build on Tomasello's findings on cultural transmission, children and adults want to please others because of their social interactions with their caregivers that started from birth. It is rare that you will find a person who does not what to please a parent even when that adult is 50 years old. 

I believe that humans are conditioned to learn through social interactions and relationships with other humans from the time they are born to the time they die. Our cognitive abilities are always changing and growing as we acquire more information and learn more about ourselves. My 35 year old self learns far differently then my 5 year old self and especially from my 25 year old self. But when something good happens to me it is my parents that I share it, my 35 year old self is still enjoying their positive reinforcement. 

References:

Tomasello, M. (1999). The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.



Websites:

Wikipedia. (24 January 2012) Retrieved on January 24, 2012, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs



TED Blog. (20 April 2007) Retrieved on January 24, 2012, from

http://blog.ted.com/2007/04/20/susan_savagerum/