Fig 1.
Experimental design (A) and results (B-C) for Experiment 2 with 3- and 4-month-old infants. (A) Infants were habituated to sequences of dogs following a rule (either ABB or ABA). After habituation, to test whether they learned the rule, they were shown two types of new sequences: familiar sequences that followed the habituated rule and novel sequences that followed a different rule. (B) Infants’ looking preferences at test by trial type, revealing a significant preference for familiar rule trials, documenting that they learned the rule during habituation. (C) Infants’ difference scores (novel–familiar looking) plotted by age. Older infants were less likely to show a familiarity preference then younger infants, suggesting that rule learning from dogs became easier with age.
Fig 2.
Experimental design (A) and results (B-C) for Experiment 4 with 3- and 4-month-old infants. (A) Infants were habituated to sequences of colored shapes following a rule (either ABB or ABA). After habituation, to test whether they learned the rule, they were shown two types of new sequences: familiar sequences that followed the habituated rule and novel sequences that followed a different rule. (B) Infants’ looking preferences at test by trial type, revealing a significant preference for novel rule trials, once again documenting that they learned the rule during habituation. (C) Infants’ difference scores (novel–familiar looking) plotted by age. Infants at all ages were equally likely to show a novelty preference, suggesting that rule learning from shapes did not become easier during this timeframe.