Children Show Improved Learning of Information Sampled in their Preferred Manner

Research showcases children’s active role in steering their learning progress by choosing what, when and whom to learn from. Here, we examined differences in children’s preferred way to sample their environment and the extent to which children’s sampling preferences predict learning outcomes. During training, 3- and 6-year-olds chose whether they wanted to actively sample objects (whose labels they would be presented with) or passively view a set of object-label associations. Following this choice, they were then presented with novel object-label associations in the chosen manner. We found that when given the choice to learn in their preferred manner, children who had a reduced preference for active sampling learned better in the passive condition. This effect was more pronounced in younger children. Our findings highlight the dynamics of children’s active learning, with children’s learning outcomes being influenced by how they choose to sample their environment. Children are not just active in terms of choosing what to learn but also accurately estimate how they ought to sample their environment.