Observational Learning and Saving Lives

 

Anthropologists and psychologists can both fundamentally agree that observational learning is fundamental in early adolescent years for both humans and animals alike. A baby watches their parent cook something, and is curious enough to perform percussion on their cooking ware. Or, for animals, a kitten will watch its mother groom herself, and subsequently copies her. 

Observational learning can also save lives. For example, many people who have obtained a CPR license can often attest to how hands on and observational the learning process is. You are not simply sitting through power point slides on human anatomy. Everything that you are expected to be trained to do is demonstrated, and particularly in first aid intervention, you are also tested on your ability to perform the observed behavior. Additionally, in a more endearing example, dogs that are trained to be rescuers and guides may potentially perform better with observational learning. Although animal experimentation often has an unfortunate history with ethics, perhaps more experiments in the future can explore more of this idea with guide dogs as well. 

Reference

Anna Scandurra, Paolo Mongillo, Lieta Marinelli, Massimo Aria, Biagio D’Aniello,

Conspecific observational learning by adult dogs in a training context,

Applied Animal Behaviour Science,

Volume 174,

2016,

Pages 116-120,

ISSN 0168-1591,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2015.11.003.