So Slashdot has this post about a recent study of the cognitive development of toddlers that concludes that kids don't learn by planning for the future. The comments are, as always, provocative, opinionated, droll, and in ways more informative than the underlying article and study [sub. req'd].
The study is of course far more elaborate and sophisticated (read: beyond me) than the article represents, so I'll take exception to the latter. For one thing--and this may be critical--I don't understand the experiment. How does identifying whether or not a cartoon character Blue is happy or sad about the emergence of either watermelon or Sponge Bob measure proactive or reactive thinking at all? If the older kids "can anticipate the answer before the object [the watermelon] appears," I'd say they're better at guessing, not remembering.
That aside, the truly laughable notion of this study is the hypothesis that one "might expect the child to plan for the future." Even more ridiculous is the prospect that this fairly describes how the minds of adults work. If that were the case, I wouldn't be scrambling right now to figure out how I'm going to make good by April 15 on the employment taxes I have known for a full year I would soon owe the federal government. On the other hand, I have been planning to arrange for a babysitter this coming Saturday to allow my wife and me to attend a beer festival in Berkeley. So maybe one's "capacity to anticipate and prepare for future events" is a function of the appeal of those events. Or maybe it's just the case that beer : watermelon :: taxes : Sponge Bob Squarepants.
Welcome to A.B., Sebastian!
I would actually be quite worried about the future and the mindset of any three year old who "plans" things. Perhaps the researchers could have had more fun if they had undertaken to compare the minds of the toddlers with that of this robot with a short lived brain.
Posted by: Ruchira | March 30, 2009 at 12:24 AM
You should probably allow Sebastian to compose his own post for A.B. He would probably come up with a very coherent explanation for his refusal to eat the spinach you thrust upon him the other day- the power of 'No'
(That is a seriously cute little guy you have there! Enjoy this age while it lasts)
Posted by: Sujatha | March 30, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Thank you, Sujatha, and I'll bite. For a short while, I was able to get him to eat exotic foods (say, peas and corn) by ordering him not to eat them. Big grin, gobble, repeat. By now, however, that game has inverted. He asks me to order him not to eat what he is poised to consume. "Peas and corn" is now short for "You're kidding, right?" We are fortunate, at least, that he likes hummus.
As for his age and development, we're savoring every minute.
Posted by: Dean C. Rowan | March 30, 2009 at 05:40 PM