Species learn from species

Le Beaumont's research shows that "species learn from species", songbirds from songbirds, humans from humans, not from machines like radio or DVDs.

New findings in US suggest that at birth, young children are prepared to learn from so-called social agents--other members in a group or society. Findings also suggest the "social brain" enhances and constrains social learning over a person's lifetime. But, beyond learning social skills, can social interaction be used to acquire specific types of learning?

In this National Science Foundation (NSF) Distinguished Lecture, Patricia Kuhl, director of NSF's LIFE Science of Learning Center, says yes. Kuhl discusses how studies of language acquisition through live social interaction led to the theoretical formulation that social interaction acts as a "gate" that triggers other types of learning. October 8, 2010

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117853