Observational learning (OL) occurs when an individual contacts reinforcement as a direct result of discriminating the observed consequences of other individuals' responses. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have deficits in observational learning and previous research has demonstrated that teaching a series of prerequisite skills (i.e., attending, imitation, delayed imitation, and consequence discrimination) can result in observational learning. We sequentially taught these prerequisite skills for three young children with ASD across three play-based tasks. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of training by assessing OL before and after instruction across tasks and task variations (for two participants) during both in-vivo and video-model probes using a concurrent multiple-probe design. All participants acquired the prerequisite skills and demonstrated observational learning during probes of directly-trained tasks. Generalization results varied across participants. Observational learning generalized to one untrained task for one participant. For the other two participants, observational learning generalized to variations of the trained tasks but not to untrained tasks. Generalization additionally occurred during the in-vivo probes for both participants for whom we assessed this response. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Consistent high levels of physical activity are necessary for improved health in fitness in all individuals. Children are expected to engage in 60+ minutes a day of physical activity, but most do not meet this level (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Methods to increase physical activity in these populations via social consequences and environmental manipulations have demonstrated efficacy in the past (Larson, Normand, Morley, and Miller, 2013) though primarily in a one-on-one setting. As most children’s opportunities for physical activity occur in group settings (i.e., recess) this study evaluates a possible observational learning approach to increasing physical activity among small play groups of young children via contingent delivery of praise. This study will evaluate the effects of contingent delivery of praise to one child on the physical activity of the entire group. The information obtained may be useful for the development of more effective methods of increasing physical activity in recess settings. Results, their implications, and potential future directions of research are discussed.

博士(理学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Science / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

Life long learning is a machine learning technique that deals with learning sequential tasks over time. It seeks to transfer knowledge from previous learning tasks to new learning tasks in order to increase generalization performance and learning speed. Real-time learning environments in which many agents are participating may provide learning opportunities but they are spread out in time and space outside of the geographical scope of a single learning agent. This research seeks to provide an algorithm and framework for life long learning among a network of agents in a sparse real-time learning environment. This work will utilize the robust knowledge representation of neural networks, and make use of both functional and representational knowledge transfer to accomplish this task. A new generative life long learning algorithm utilizing cascade correlation and reverberating pseudo-rehearsal and incorporating a method for merging divergent life long learning paths will be implemented.

In the wild, a variety of inter-group behavioural differences have been reported for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and it has been suggested that these may have resulted from social learning. To determine whether chimpanzees show the necessary propensity for social learning, groups of captive chimpanzees were tested in a series of experiments involving the use of two-action and bidirectional apparatuses. For comparison, and to shed light on any contrasts between our own and chimpanzee learning strategies, similar tests were also conducted with children (Homo sapiens) to ascertain the nature of their observational learning when watching conspecifics. Through the use of open diffusion and diffusion chain techniques, it was shown that both species learnt how to operate different foraging devices from observing an expert conspecific and this learning was strong enough for the generation of behavioural traditions which passed along multiple test ‘generations’. Additionally, ghost conditions were used to distinguish imitative and emulative learning by both species. With one of the two test devices used (the Slide-box) the first evidence for emulation learning by chimpanzees, through the use of a ghost condition, was shown. Children in this condition also showed apparent emulation; a contrast to previous research which has concluded that children tend to rely on imitation. Additionally, to test its potential for use in future social learning experiments, the ability of chimpanzees to learn from video-footage of an unknown conspecific was tested. It was found that the chimpanzees not only learnt how to operate two devices from observing this footage but also used the same alternative method used by the model chimpanzee.

生活中許多決策情境是「不確定下的決策（decisions under uncertainty）」，只瞭解選項的結果，不知道結果發生的機率。人們會累積經驗，以學習到適當的決策。許多證據支持，自身會透過增強學習（reinforcement learning）機制學習，根據每次獲得的經驗，調整對於選項的期望，之後選擇期望最大的選項，幫助做出適當的決策。經驗可以透過自身決策或觀察他人決策所獲得，然而，過去較少研究探討觀察學習。因此，本研究欲探討決策中的觀察學習，並釐清同理心對於觀察學習的調節作用。實驗一中，改善過去了研究限制，量測膚電反應、學習速率與行為表現，讓參與者在自身學習、觀察他人與觀察電腦情境進行作業，並透過同理心問卷測量參與者的同理心特質。結果顯示，觀察學習在正向學習與負向學習不同，正向學習為趨向優勢選項，負向學習為避開劣勢選項。正向學習在三種學習情境中無任何差異，負向學習在觀察他人學習時，會受到同理心的調節作用。同理心分數越高，觀察他人的負向行為表現越好，觀察他人負向回饋的膚電反應越大。實驗一只透過問卷測量同理心，無法推論因果關係，因此實驗二直接操弄了不同的同理程度。回饋呈現的同時，呈現他人的情緒或中性臉孔圖片，以引發參與者的同理程度高或低。實驗中，量測回饋相關負波（Feedback-Related Negativity，FRN）、學習速率與行為表現。如同實驗一，只有負向學習受到同理程度不同的影響。同理程度高時，負向學習表現較好。FRN則顯示了同理程度與預期性的交互作用，同理程度低時，與過去研究一致，非預期FRN比預期FRN更加負向；同理程度高時，則無此預期性效果。雖然FRN無預期性差異，但依然能學習到符號機率，行為表現不受影響，推測可能有其他系統參與決策學習。綜上所述，本研究顯示，只有負向學習中，觀察學習會受到同理心的調節，同理心越高，行為表現越好。 / In daily life, we made many decisions under uncertainty. In each decision, we know only the outcome but no probabilities of the outcome. We have to accumulate the experience to learn adaptive decisions. Bunches of studies have shown that people may learn adaptive decisions by reinforcement learning. People modified the expectation for each option according to decision feedbacks, and, in the next time, chose the option with the maximum expectation. People can receive feedback from decisions making by self or others. However, fewer studies examined observational learning in decision making. Therefore, present research would clarify observational learning in decision making, and examine how empathy modulated observational learning. In experiment 1, skin conductance response, learning rate and behavioral performance were recorded and analyzed. Participants would learning decisions in different situations of self learning, observing others and observing computer. The questionnaire of empathy was also measured to examine its modulation in observational learning. The results showed that there were difference in positive learning and negative learning. Positive learning is to approach to the advantageous option, while negative learning is to avoid from the disadvantageous option. In positive learning, there were no difference among the three learning situations, but, in negative learning, empathy would modulate learning by observing others. The higher the empathy score was, the better the behavioral performance of negative learning was. Moreover, the skin conductance response when participants observing others’ negative feedback positively correlated with the empathy score. In experiment 2, the empathy level was manipulated by display pictures of others faces with feedback. Displaying the emotional faces or neutral faces would induce high or low empathy level for others, respectively. The feedback-related negativity (FRN), learning rate and behavioral performance were recorded and analyzed. Similar to experiment 1, only the negative learning was modulated by the empathy level. When participants were induced high empathy level, the behavioral performance was better. The results of FRN showed the interaction between empathy levels and expectancy of feedback. When participant’s empathy level was low, unexpected FRN was more negative than expected FRN. This result was consistent with previous studies. Nevertheless, when participant’s empathy level was high, there was no difference between unexpected FRN and expected FRN. Although FRN didn't show the effect of expectancy, participants could still learn the probabilities of each signs and made adaptive decisions. This result may result from other systems involved in observational learning. From the results of experiment 1 and 2, present research showed that, only in negative learning, observational learning was modulated by empathy, and the higher the empathy level was, the better the behavioral performance was.

This dissertation is a multi-layered examination of the practice of voting, with a focus on the electoral turnout of immigrants. Chapter Two’s statistical analyses show that pre-migration cultural familiarity with democracy, formalized as levels of democratization in source countries, strongly shapes the likelihood of post-migration voting among Canadian immigrants. These origin effects, comparable in size to the best predictors of turnout that we have, exert a persistent influence – affecting turnout not only among the foreign-born, but also among the native-born second generation. Multilevel models demonstrate that the shifting source country composition of immigrant period-of-arrival cohorts provides an alternate explanation for what have previously been identified as generational, racial, and length of residence or ‘exposure’ effects among immigrant voters. This provides further evidence that voting is in most cases habitual, and raises questions about the acquisition, transmission, and reproduction of a voting practice. Chapter Three’s narratives of political development, gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, confirm the importance of parental influence, and suggest that the ‘stickiness’ of practical capacities like voting may be the result of powerful processes of observational social learning. Providing a new twist on dominant models of political socialization, observation of parental voting appears to be the pivotal event in a path-dependent process of political learning, with acquisition of values and beliefs playing a supporting, rather than a leading role. Chapter Four reviews recent efforts among sociologists to amend action theory to make more room for habit, and these efforts are discussed in reference to contemporary research on turnout. I argue that these theoretical revisions still retain too sharp a focus on the cognitive aspects of practice. There is a lack of appreciation for the ways that action itself – our own previous actions and the actions of those close to us – can directly structure outcomes. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is used to more precisely delineate habitual behaviour and thought. Where the intergenerational transmission of voting behaviour is concerned, culture is often coded directly into embodied practice. Efforts to encourage electoral participation should be built on a better understanding of voting’s substantial behavioural aspects.

This dissertation is a multi-layered examination of the practice of voting, with a focus on the electoral turnout of immigrants. Chapter Two’s statistical analyses show that pre-migration cultural familiarity with democracy, formalized as levels of democratization in source countries, strongly shapes the likelihood of post-migration voting among Canadian immigrants. These origin effects, comparable in size to the best predictors of turnout that we have, exert a persistent influence – affecting turnout not only among the foreign-born, but also among the native-born second generation. Multilevel models demonstrate that the shifting source country composition of immigrant period-of-arrival cohorts provides an alternate explanation for what have previously been identified as generational, racial, and length of residence or ‘exposure’ effects among immigrant voters. This provides further evidence that voting is in most cases habitual, and raises questions about the acquisition, transmission, and reproduction of a voting practice. Chapter Three’s narratives of political development, gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, confirm the importance of parental influence, and suggest that the ‘stickiness’ of practical capacities like voting may be the result of powerful processes of observational social learning. Providing a new twist on dominant models of political socialization, observation of parental voting appears to be the pivotal event in a path-dependent process of political learning, with acquisition of values and beliefs playing a supporting, rather than a leading role. Chapter Four reviews recent efforts among sociologists to amend action theory to make more room for habit, and these efforts are discussed in reference to contemporary research on turnout. I argue that these theoretical revisions still retain too sharp a focus on the cognitive aspects of practice. There is a lack of appreciation for the ways that action itself – our own previous actions and the actions of those close to us – can directly structure outcomes. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is used to more precisely delineate habitual behaviour and thought. Where the intergenerational transmission of voting behaviour is concerned, culture is often coded directly into embodied practice. Efforts to encourage electoral participation should be built on a better understanding of voting’s substantial behavioural aspects.

With the abundance of literature focusing on parental influence in sport, it is important to identify family dynamics that extend beyond parents to include siblings. In this study, sibling influence was explored though interviews with previously identified elite youth female athletes (N=4) and their sibling (N=4) of the same sex who participated in the same sport. The purpose was to discover how siblings influence sport participation and how parents influence sibling relationships, retrospectively. Three categories emerged from the data: positive experiences participating in the same sport, negative experiences participating in the same sport, and perception of the parental role. The participants’ descriptions coincide with observational learning and both deidentification and divergence processes. The data adds to the probable sibling and parent experiences proposed in the Developmental Model of Sport Participation and provides insight for athletes, parents, and coaches on how to manage sibling relations in sport. / October 2015

Physical activity plays a key role in the health of children. Childhood obesity is increasing in the United States, and children are spending less time being physically active. Active participation by a physical education (PE) teacher in physical activities has been suggested as a means of promoting student fitness. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to determine whether modeling of physical activity by a PE teacher would increase student participation and physical fitness. Bandura's social learning theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Participants included 311 4th and 5th grade elementary students enrolled in physical education classes. One group of students experienced PE teacher modeling in physical education class activities and the other group experienced no PE teacher modeling. Participation grades in physical education were used for participation scores, while the FITNESSGRAM was used to measure student physical fitness. Independent samples t tests were used to compare students' fitness and participation levels between the two groups. Results indicated no significant differences in fitness or participation between the groups based on teacher modeling. This study promoted positive social change by providing initial research findings to the local site on encouraging physical activity through teacher participation, which may be used to further examine student participation in physical activity.