When babies encounter a new object, their method of making its acquaintance tends to involve banging it against the nearest hard surface or shoving as much of it in their mouths as possible. While this is slightly less adorable when the object in question is, say, a brand-new iPhone, adults can take solace in the fact that it might mean the kid is learning something new.
According to a study published Thursday in Science, babies learn by being surprised by the objects around them.
For this totally cute research endeavor, scientists showed a group of 11-month-olds a series of objects behaving in surprising and predictable ways.
“Our research suggests that 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,” Lisa Feigenson, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University and an author of the study, said in a statement.
Then, they develop their own secret language and hatch a plot to foil a group of mad scientists. All in due time.
This article was originally published on www.theatlantic.com. Read the original here.
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