TY - JOUR

T1 - Learning Novel Skills From Iconic Gestures

T2 - A Developmental and Evolutionary Perspective

AU - Bohn, Manuel

AU - Kordt, Clara

AU - Braun, Maren

AU - Call, Josep

AU - Tomasello, Michael

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.

PY - 2020/7/1

Y1 - 2020/7/1

N2 - Cumulative cultural learning has been argued to rely on high-fidelity copying of other individuals’ actions. Iconic gestures of actions have no physical effect on objects in the world but merely represent actions that would have an effect. Learning from iconic gestures thus requires paying close attention to the teacher’s precise bodily movements—a prerequisite for high-fidelity copying. In three studies, we investigated whether 2- and 3-year-old children (N = 122) and great apes (N = 36) learn novel skills from iconic gestures. When faced with a novel apparatus, participants watched an experimenter perform either an iconic gesture depicting the action necessary to open the apparatus or a gesture depicting a different action. Children, but not great apes, profited from iconic gestures, with older children doing so to a larger extent. These results suggest that high-fidelity copying abilities are firmly in place in humans by at least 3 years of age.

AB - Cumulative cultural learning has been argued to rely on high-fidelity copying of other individuals’ actions. Iconic gestures of actions have no physical effect on objects in the world but merely represent actions that would have an effect. Learning from iconic gestures thus requires paying close attention to the teacher’s precise bodily movements—a prerequisite for high-fidelity copying. In three studies, we investigated whether 2- and 3-year-old children (N = 122) and great apes (N = 36) learn novel skills from iconic gestures. When faced with a novel apparatus, participants watched an experimenter perform either an iconic gesture depicting the action necessary to open the apparatus or a gesture depicting a different action. Children, but not great apes, profited from iconic gestures, with older children doing so to a larger extent. These results suggest that high-fidelity copying abilities are firmly in place in humans by at least 3 years of age.

KW - cultural learning

KW - evolution

KW - gesture

KW - iconicity

KW - imitation

KW - open data

KW - open materials

KW - preregistered

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085385852&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0956797620921519

DO - 10.1177/0956797620921519

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 32453622

AN - SCOPUS:85085385852

VL - 31

SP - 873

EP - 880

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 7

ER -