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INFANT LEARNING AND GENERALIZED EXPECTANCIES

Margaret W. Sullivan and Michael Lewis

lnstiiute for the Study of Child Development, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School New Brunswick, NJ 089030019

Contingency learning is thought to promote generalized expectancies (Lewis & Goldberg, 1969; Watson, 1981). There Is empirical support for the learning of specific expectancies about the contingent stimulus and the response as well as generalized social expectancies (Rovee-Collier, 1987; Fagen, 1993; Gekoski et al., 1983; Dunham 81 Dunham, 1990). However, contingency learning also may teach infants that environmental events are controllable by self-initiated action (Lewis & Brinker, 1985). Such genemliied expectancies of control may motiiate much of infant’s subsequent environmental exploration. Measures of sensorimotor concepts such as means-ends abilii, casual understanding, and schemes are based on genemliied behaviors for manipulating and exploring objects (UzgiticHunt, 1975; Dunst, 1980). We expected that contingency learning ability would be related to these measures since they assess genemlized behavior. More efficient contingency learning should promote greater experience with contingencies, consolidation of an expectancy of environmental control, and lead to better scores on Uzgiris-Hunt.

VW tested 20 infants longitudinally at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 20 ms of age. Infants learned a pulling contingency (Lewis, Sullivan, & Brooks-Gunn, 1985) and were administered the means-ends, causality, and schemes subscales of the Urgirls-Hunt at each age. VW chose these ages because contingency learning is stable between 2-8 months and repetition of single learning session at these intervals does not have a pmctiie effect (Sullivan, Alessandrl, & Lewis, 1993). Dunst’s version (1980) of the Uzgiris- Hunt was used because of the expanded items available on the relevant scales. Efficiency of learning was measured by the number of seconds to attain a response rate double the baseline rate. Infants who were more efficient learners were expected to show greater scores on the Uzglrts-Hunt. We also expected that infants who met criterion at 2 ms would show greater competence subsequently.

Time to criterion did not vary significantly with age. Uzglris-Hunt scores increased with age, as expected. Nanpammetric correlations were used to examine the relation between time to criterion and all Uzgiris-Hunt scores since this scale is was ordinal the data had bimodal distributions. We found that time to criterion was negatively correlated with neatly all UzgirikHunt scores. The more rapidly criterion was met, the higher the score on means-ends, causality, schemes and a composite summary score. Time to criterion at 2 ms was significantly related to schemes and the summary swre at 2 ms @ < .05, two-tailed). Time to criterion at 8 ms was also related to meankends and summary scares at 8 ms @ < .Ol). No relation was found at any age to the 20 ms Uzgiris-Hunt scores.

Individual differences in learning ability in relation to Uzgiris-Hunt scores were also examined by Chi-square. Time to criterion at each age was used to split infants Into three groups: fast learners (criterion w/n 4 min), slow learners (criterion in 4-9 min) and never met criterion. Fast learners at 4 ms had greater summary scores at 6 ms. Those with greater summary scores at 2 ms were fast learner at 6 ms. No other signlticant associations were observed.

The results suggest that learning efficiency at the time that reaching skills emerge Is related to subsequent competence in manipulating and exploring objects. The lack of a long-term relation to 20 ms Uzgirls-Hunt scores may reflect that celling on the subscales was reached by this age. The ftndings are consistent wlth the view that genemllzed expectancies develop from contingency learning and that 6 months is an milestone for their development.