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Infants recruit logic to learn about the social world
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
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Keywords
General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27693
Abstract
When perceptually available information is scant, we can leverage logical connections among hypotheses to draw reliable conclusions that guide our reasoning and learning. We investigate whether this function of logical reasoning is present in infancy and aid understanding and learning about the social environment. In our task, infants watch reaching actions directed toward a hidden object whose identity is ambiguous between two alternatives and has to be inferred by elimination. Here we show that infants apply a disjunctive inference to identify the hidden object and use this logical conclusion to assess the consistency of the actions with a preference previously demonstrated by the agent and, importantly, also to acquire new knowledge regarding the preferences of the observed actor. These findings suggest that, early in life, preverbal logical reasoning functions as a reliable source of evidence that can support learning by offering a logical route for knowledge acquisition.
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Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2020-12
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1038/s41467-020-19734-5