THE ESSENTIAL
- A study reveals that children learn just as much whether they are attentive or not, unlike adults who filter their learning according to their goals.
- The researchers tested children and adults on drawings in two scenarios: paying attention or ignoring the images. The children learned in both cases, thanks to a brain absorbing all the information – a mechanism that explains their ease in learning languages.
- These findings highlight the importance of play and immersive experiences for children, while for adults, clear goals improve learning.
“Don’t get mad at that little boy who jumps on the bed while you read him a story, explains Amy Finn, professor of psychology at the University of Toronto (Canada). He probably listens and learns anyway, even if it doesn’t seem obvious.” In a study published in the journal Psychological Sciencethe researcher affirms that, unlike adults, children absorb the information they listen to even without focusing on it. In other words, they learn equally well whether they are attentive or not.
A unique ability in children
Research shows that children’s selective attention, or their ability to ignore distractions to focus, develops slowly and is not fully mature until adulthood. To test this hypothesis, Finn and his team of researchers used children and adults to assess their learning after seeing drawings of common objects in two scenarios: in the first, they had to pay attention to the drawings, while in the second, they were invited to ignore these drawings to concentrate on another task. Then, everyone had to quickly identify fragments of the drawings presented.
As a result, children learned equally well in both scenarios, while adults only retained what they had been asked to focus on, according to a press release. This difference is explained by the fact that children’s brains process information without distinction, whether it is considered important or not. A mechanism which promotes, for example, their ability to learn several languages.
-Implications for children’s education
These discoveries open up interesting perspectives for parents, teachers and school curriculum designers. For children, they highlight the importance of learning through play and immersive experiences: little ones naturally absorb information as they explore and interact with their environment, without the need for forced concentration. For adults, on the other hand, clarity of learning objectives is essential. Defining priorities at the start of a learning session or training optimizes information retention.
This study invites us to reconsider our expectations of children, recognizing their unique way of learning while adapting our methods to the different needs of adults. “Now when I’m with my five-year-old son, I worry less about whether he’s learning even if he doesn’t seem to be paying attention.”confides Amy Finn.
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