From: Richard Brodie (richard@brodietech.com)
Date: Sun 06 Jul 2003 - 14:26:40 GMT
Keith wrote:
<<They
divided a group of undergraduates in two and taught one half how to make a
typical Neanderthal stone tool by using elaborate verbal explanations along
with practical demonstrations. The other half they taught by silent example
alone. One thing this experiment dramatically revealed was just how tough
it is to make stone tools; some of the undergraduates never became
proficient. But more remarkable still was that the two groups showed
essentially no difference either in the speed at which they acquired
toolmaking skills or in the efficiency with which they did so. Apparently
learning by silent example is just fine for passing along even
sophisticated stone tool-making techniques.">>
Well, learning by silent example is just fine for passing on sophisticated
techniques to educated college undergraduates anyway. It's not immediately
apparent to me whether two decades of language use facilitated this silent
learning or not.
Nevertheless, there's no reason remembered images of watching people perform
tasks couldn't be considered primordial nouns and verbs. It's a fascinating
line of inquiry. Thanks.
Richard Brodie
www.memecentral.com
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