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Letting contingency out of the box: new perspectives on mechanisms of learning from social interaction

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: How do social interactions create learning opportunities? Research on human and animal learning demonstrates that social interactions facilitate many aspects of development and learning. For example, songbirds and non-human primates acquire their species-typical vocalizations more effectively when embedded in contingent interactions with conspecifics than when exposed to non-contingent or isolated input. Similarly, human infants’ engagement in social interaction predicts later language skills, brain development, self-regulatory capacities, social bonding, and perspective-taking. What remains unclear are the mechanisms underlying this facilitative effect in humans and other species. This article introduces a special issue which aims to address this gap. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mechanisms of learning from social interaction’.

Source: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0358

Authors: Elena Luchkina, Steven L. Elmlinger, Michael H. Goldstein

Institutions: Harvard University, The University of Texas at Dallas, University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, Cornell University

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W7128029107

FWCI: 15.03

Cites: 137

Cited by: 1

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