Cognition

Carolyn Rovee-Collier gave birth to her first son while she was a graduate student. She was faced with the difficulty of taking care of a newborn and writing a dissertation at the same time. As she attempted to write at her desk, her son was in the crib by her side. Hanging from the crib was a mobile that was intended to hold his attention. However, every time she tried to write a sentence, her son would cry, and she would have to stop writing to shake his mobile for him, which quieted him. Was there any way that she could get her son to entertain himself, so that he would stop interrupting? After all, she was a psychologist. She should be able to think of something.

What she thought of was to tie a ribbon from her son's ankle to the mobile hanging over the crib (Figure 8.1, top). Now, when the boy squirmed and moved his leg, the mobile moved as well. The movement instantly caught his attention, distracting and quieting him. Within a few minutes he learned that he could make the mobile shake by moving his leg. This delighted him no end. Transfixed, he would give his leg a quick jerk, observe the result, and laugh. Soon he laughed and squealed even before he kicked, anticipating what was going to happen. This left his mother free to complete her work. What was more remarkable was that, when Rovee-Collier attached the ribbon to his foot the next day, he started kicking straight away. He remembered how to make the mobile move.

This simple tale of infant learning illustrates the close connection between learning and action. From infancy, people remember the consequences of their actions. Then, in similar circumstances, it is possible to act effectively. After his initial discovery, every time Rovee-Collier's son saw the mobile to which he had been tethered he tried to move it with a kick.

This discovery of the learning ability of a newborn (Rovee and Rovee, 1969) was a major surprise. Anyone who has ever taken care of a newborn can be excused for considering it to be little more than a digestive tract.