"Infants use what they already know about the world to form predictions. When these predictions are shown to be wrong, infants use this as a special opportunity for learning," said Lisa Feigenson, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University. IPGGutenbergUKLtd/iStock/Thinkstock
When babies confront something surprising, they want to figure out what happened—and that curiosity helps them learn.
If an object behaves differently from what a baby anticipates, he or she not only focuses on that object, but also ultimately learns more about it than from a similar but more predictable object, new research shows.
