The Role Of Common Representational Mechanisms In The Transfer Effect Of Social Learning

Over the course of life,much of human learning occurs through observation or interaction with others.Whether it is basic survival behaviors or mastery of complex cultural practices,this social learning(i.e.,learning stimuli,actions,or knowledge from others)is critical to human survival and development.Currently,it has been found that individuals also acquire task-irrelevant information(i.e.,peer task information)when interacting with others,and that this learning effect disappears when the task is completed alone.To elucidate the mechanisms involved in the joint effect,a large number of studies have further proposed classical theories such as shared representation,reference coding,and social facilitation based on the role of social or nonsocial factors in the process during joint action.However,there is a lack of research that applies the above theories to explain the cognitive mechanisms of social learning.Given the high similarity between social learning and joint action processes,we speculate that the above mechanisms may also be important factors influencing the social learning process.In summary,this study uses the social learning transfer paradigm in social learning,combined with behavioral experiments and EEG-based hyperscanning(EEG)instruments,to further elucidate and clarify the mechanisms of shared representation,referential coding,and social facilitation in the social learning process through three experiments.To separate and validate the mechanisms of co-representation and reference coding,Experiment 1 used a mixed experimental design of 2(co-actor type: human vs.abiotic)× 2(stage: baseline stage vs.migration stage)× 2(stimulus type: compatible vs.incompatible).Individuals were required to complete the joint Simon task with co-occurrence in the preand post-test phases.Notably,in the learning phase in the middle of the pre-and post-test phases,individuals will complete the spatially compatible learning task with a co-actor(i.e.,human or Japanese beckoning cat).The results of Experiment 1 showed that the joint Simon effect(i.e.,a significant difference in response time between the compatible and incompatible conditions)observed in the pre-test phase by individuals only after practicing the spatial compatibility task together with humans disappeared in the post-test phase.Building on Experiment 1,Experiment 2 further examined the relationship between co-representation and social facilitation mechanisms,i.e.,it explored whether the social learning effect occurred because individuals perceived their peer as a social person and thus represented and integrated their task information or whether the mere presence of the peer served as a social cue and influenced the individual’s encoding state.Experiment 2used a mixed experimental design of 2(co-actor state: engaged task vs.passively observed)× 2(stage: baseline stage vs.migration stage)× 2(stimulus type: compatible vs.incompatible).Unlike Experiment 1,in the learning phase,co-actors were required to either complete their own task(participation task condition)or were only asked to passively observe the task(passive observation condition).The results of Experiment 2showed that the joint Simon effect observed by individuals in the pretest phase disappeared in the posttest phase only when the co-actors participated in the task.Experiment III combined behavioral experiments and EEG ultrascans on the basis of the Experiment II task to further elucidate the neural basis,especially the interindividual neural basis,behind the mechanisms of joint representation during social learning.Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 2 at the behavioral level and also found that subjects showed higher inter-individual synchronization in the engaged task condition compared to the passively observed condition.In addition,the present study also found that the incompatible condition induced higher P3 component amplitudes at the individual level compared to the compatible condition.Combined with these results,the present study shows that shared representations are an important mechanism to explain the social learning effect,i.e.,shared representations allow individuals’ peers to encode and integrate information about themselves and their peers’ tasks and influence their subsequent task performance.More importantly,co-representation relies on the active involvement of peers in their tasks,and interbrain synchronization between individuals and their peers may be the neural basis of the co-representation mechanism.This study provides a theoretical explanation of the cognitive neural mechanisms involved in social learning,which helps us to understand the developmental process of human learning at the level of social interaction,and provides new perspectives for educational and clinical applications.