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All Outputs (36)

Developmental niche construction (2013)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., Laland, K., Kendal, R., & Kendal, J. (2013). Developmental niche construction. Developmental Science, 16(2), 296-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12030

Niche construction is the modification of components in an environment through an organism's activities. Humans modify their environments mainly through ontogenetic and cultural processes, and it is this reliance on learning, plasticity and culture t... Read More about Developmental niche construction.

Experimental 'microcultures' in young children: identifying biographic, cognitive, and social predictors of information transmission (2012)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2012). Experimental 'microcultures' in young children: identifying biographic, cognitive, and social predictors of information transmission. Child Development, 83(3), 911-925. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01747.x

In one of the first open diffusion experiments with young children, a tool-use task that afforded multiple methods to extract an enclosed reward and a child model habitually using one of these methods were introduced into different playgroups. Eighty... Read More about Experimental 'microcultures' in young children: identifying biographic, cognitive, and social predictors of information transmission.

Context-dependent model-based biases in cultural transmission: Children’s imitation is affected by model age over model knowledgeable state (2012)
Journal Article
Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2012). Context-dependent model-based biases in cultural transmission: Children’s imitation is affected by model age over model knowledgeable state. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(4), 387-394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.11.010

Many animals, including humans, acquire information through social learning. Although such information can be acquired easily, its potential unreliability means it should not be used indiscriminately. Cultural ‘transmission biases’ may allow individu... Read More about Context-dependent model-based biases in cultural transmission: Children’s imitation is affected by model age over model knowledgeable state.

Investigating the mechanisms of cultural acquisition: How pervasive is overimitation in adults? (2012)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Smith, K. (2012). Investigating the mechanisms of cultural acquisition: How pervasive is overimitation in adults?. Social Psychology, 43(4), 185-195. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000119

High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children’s high-fidelity imitation can result in overimitation, the copying of instrumentally irrelevant actions. We present a series of studies investigating whether adu... Read More about Investigating the mechanisms of cultural acquisition: How pervasive is overimitation in adults?.

The psychology of infant colic: A review of current research (2011)
Journal Article
Kaley, F., Reid, V., & Flynn, E. (2011). The psychology of infant colic: A review of current research. Infant Mental Health Journal, 32(5), 526-541. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.20308

Colic, or excessive infant crying, occurs during the first 3 months in approximately 15 to 20% of infants and is the most common concern for which parents seek medical advice during an infant's first year. Various physiological and environmental caus... Read More about The psychology of infant colic: A review of current research.

The Transmission and Evolution of Experimental Microcultures in Groups of Young Children (2010)
Journal Article
Whiten, A., & Flynn, E. (2010). The Transmission and Evolution of Experimental Microcultures in Groups of Young Children. Developmental Psychology, 46(6), 1694-1709. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020786

A new experimental microculture approach was developed to investigate the creation and transmission of differing traditions in small communities of young children. Four playgroups, with a total of 88 children, participated. In each of 2 playgroups, a... Read More about The Transmission and Evolution of Experimental Microcultures in Groups of Young Children.

Studying children’s social learning experimentally “in the wild” (2010)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2010). Studying children’s social learning experimentally “in the wild”. Learning & Behavior, 38(3), 284-296. https://doi.org/10.3758/lb.38.3.284

Diffusion studies are taking us a step closer to understanding social learning and cultural transmission in young children. The first half of this article presents a review that focuses on four main cultural issues addressed by diffusion studies: (1)... Read More about Studying children’s social learning experimentally “in the wild”.

Observational learning of tool use in children: Investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays (2010)
Journal Article
Hopper, L., Flynn, E., Wood, L., & Whiten, A. (2010). Observational learning of tool use in children: Investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 106(1), 82-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2009.12.001

In the first of two experiments, we demonstrate the spread of a novel form of tool use across 20 “cultural generations” of child-to-child transmission. An experimentally seeded technique spread with 100% fidelity along twice as many “generations” as... Read More about Observational learning of tool use in children: Investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays.

Imitation of hierarchical structure versus component details of complex actions by 3- and 5-year-olds (2008)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2008). Imitation of hierarchical structure versus component details of complex actions by 3- and 5-year-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101(4), 228-240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.05.009

We investigated developmental changes in the level of information children incorporate into their imitation when a model executes complex, hierarchically organized actions. A total of 57 3-year-olds and 60 5-year-olds participated, watching video dem... Read More about Imitation of hierarchical structure versus component details of complex actions by 3- and 5-year-olds.

Investigating children as cultural magnets: Do young children transmit redundant information along diffusion chains? (2008)
Journal Article
Flynn, E. (2008). Investigating children as cultural magnets: Do young children transmit redundant information along diffusion chains?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1509), 3541-3551. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0136

The primary goal of this study was to investigate cultural transmission in young children, with specific reference to the phenomenon of overimitation. Diffusion chains were used to compare the imitation of 2- and 3-year-olds on a task in which the in... Read More about Investigating children as cultural magnets: Do young children transmit redundant information along diffusion chains?.

Cultural transmission of tool use in young children: A diffusion chain study (2008)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2008). Cultural transmission of tool use in young children: A diffusion chain study. Social Development, 17(3), 699-718. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00453.x

Developmental and gender effects in the transmission of information about a tool-use task were investigated within a ‘diffusion chain’ design. One hundred and twenty-seven children (65 three-year-olds and 62 five-year-olds) participated. Eighty child... Read More about Cultural transmission of tool use in young children: A diffusion chain study.

Imitation of hierarchical action structure by young children (2006)
Journal Article
Whiten, A., Flynn, E., Brown, K., & Lee, K. (2006). Imitation of hierarchical action structure by young children. Developmental Science, 9(6), 575-582. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00535.x

To provide the first systematic test of whether young children will spontaneously perceive and imitate hierarchical structure in complex actions, a task was devised in which a set of 16 elements can be modelled through either of two different, hierar... Read More about Imitation of hierarchical action structure by young children.

Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children (2006)
Journal Article
Horner, V., Whiten, A., Flynn, E., & de Waal, F. (2006). Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(37), 13878-13883. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0606015103

Observational studies of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have revealed population-specific differences in behavior, thought to represent cultural variation. Field studies have also reported behaviors indicative of cultural learning, such as close... Read More about Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children.

A microgenetic investigation of stability and continuity in theory of mind development (2006)
Journal Article
Flynn, E. (2006). A microgenetic investigation of stability and continuity in theory of mind development. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(3), 631-654. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005x57422

The processes behind the transition from consistently failing tests of false belief understanding to consistently passing the tests was investigated by tracking changes in children's mental state understanding. Participants were 42 children (aged 3;1... Read More about A microgenetic investigation of stability and continuity in theory of mind development.

A longitudinal, microgenetic study of the emergence of false belief understanding and inhibition skills (2004)
Journal Article
Flynn, E., O'Malley, C., & Wood, D. (2004). A longitudinal, microgenetic study of the emergence of false belief understanding and inhibition skills. Developmental Science, 7(1), 103-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00326.x

Two theories that attempt to explain the relationship between false belief understanding and inhibition skills were investigated: (1) theory of mind development improves self-control, and (2) executive control is necessary for developing a theory of... Read More about A longitudinal, microgenetic study of the emergence of false belief understanding and inhibition skills.