Title: Watch and Learn: Mapping the Behavioural and Neural Profile of Observational Learning Throughout the Lifespan
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: As humans, our ability to survive within a social world is facilitated by learning through observing others. As such, when learning tasks as simple as tying one's shoes or as complex as performing heart surgery, we learn by watching from childhood through to old age. Many researchers from the behavioural and brain sciences suggest that observational and physical learning share common features. What remains unknown is how our brains and behaviour change when learning by observation across the lifespan, as well as how age impacts the efficacy of observational learning. To address these questions, I measure the impact of observational learning on behaviour and brain activity among children, young adults, and older adults. The ultimate aim is to develop a means of identifying factors associated with observational learning success, which in turn will inform observation-based interventions used in education and therapeutic contexts. What will the 'Watch and Learn' project contribute to our knowledge? Questions concerning how we learn by observation attract attention from researchers and practitioners ranging from education to psychology to medicine. However, it has not yet been possible to directly compare how the brain and behaviour are impacted by observational compared to physical learning. This is due to limitations in traditional cognitive neuroscience approaches that lack the sensitivity and sophistication required to detect subtle differences in how the brain represents new information learned by observation or physical practice. Only through the innovative combination of advanced neuroscientific techniques with behavioural training procedures targeting different age groups is it possible to (1) definitively address how observational learning impacts the brain and behaviour throughout the lifespan and (2) explore possibilities for detecting the efficacy of observational learning on an individual basis. How will the 'Watch and Learn' project illuminate how we learn by observation throughout our lives? The project comprises 3 studies, each using the same procedures with a different age group (S1-young adults, S2-children, S3-older adults). Each study features a training part and a part that evaluates individual predictors of observational learning success. In Part 1, participants learn simple dance sequences by physical practice or observation. Performance is measured daily and participants' brain activity is measured at 3 points in the training process. Through the innovative application of multivariate analyses, I will measure how the brain represents information learned by observation vs physical practice. The results will inform a new model of how both kinds of learning impact the brain and behaviour at different life stages. In Part 2 of each study, I re-evaluate individual participants' brain and behavioural data, aiming to identify at an early learning stage who is likely to benefit most from observation. This novel approach represents the first attempt to consider all aspects of a person's rich and complex learning data to better understand and predict how each individual may respond to observational training. What are the implications of this research? Who benefits? The most direct implication of the 'Watch and Learn' project is a better understanding of how we transform visual information into physical skills from childhood to advanced age. More broadly, those who teach or rehabilitate motor skills stand to benefit from the project's findings through an improved understanding of how observational learning compares to physical learning in terms of behavioural performance and the speed and efficacy with which individuals of different ages may be expected to learn by observation. Outreach and knowledge exchange activities are targeted at the public as well as educators who teach physical skills in schools and hospitals, with the aim to optimize observational approaches based on the results of this project.


Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: NEUROLOGICAL