Kindergarteners' selective attention in direct and observational learning.
The present study was designed to compare direct learning (learning by performing) with observational learning (learning by observing) in a version of central-incidental memory task. A 2 X 2 factorial design, containing methods of participation (performer, observer) and game-trials (1 and 5 games) was used. 80 kindergarteners (6 yr. old) were divided into four groups. In the performer and observer conditions, central recall scores were higher than incidental recall scores, five-game groups showed more central recall than one-game groups, five-game groups showed more incidental learning than one-game groups, and recognition scores were higher than recall scores. The results suggested that the observers' attention to stimuli may be inferred to be very similar to the performers', for the observers' score patterns of the two measures were similar to those of the performers.
D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D011214:Practice, Psychological