Thursday, March 26, 2009

Why Toddlers Don't Do What They're Told


Very interesting article for our reference...
(Patutlah... sikecik tu buat donno je bila kita larang dia buat pape yang x bess... cesss)


Why Toddlers Don't Do What They're Told

Study using SpongeBob SquarePants shows they're not ignoring you, but rather storing what you say for future reference.
By LiveScience Staff


Are you listening to me? Didn't I just tell you to get your coat? Helloooo! It's cold out there ....

So goes many a "conversation" between parent and toddler. It seems everything you tell them either falls on deaf ears or goes in one ear and out the other. But that's not how it works.

Toddlers listen, they just store the information for later use, a new study finds.

"I went into this study expecting a completely different set of findings," said psychology professor Yuko Munakata, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado at Boulder. "There is a lot of work in the field of cognitive development that focuses on how kids are basically little versions of adults trying to do the same things adults do, but they're just not as good at it yet. What we show here is they are doing something completely different."

Munakata and colleagues used a computer game and a setup that measures the diameter of the pupil of the eye to determine the mental effort of the child to study the cognitive abilities of 3-and-a-half-year-olds and 8-year-olds.

The game involved teaching children simple rules about two cartoon characters—Blue from Blue's Clues and SpongeBob SquarePants—and their preferences for different objects. The children were told that Blue likes watermelon, so they were to press the happy face on the computer screen only when they saw Blue followed by a watermelon. When SpongeBob appeared, they were to press the sad face on the screen.

"The older kids found this sequence easy, because they can anticipate the answer before the object appears," said doctoral student Christopher Chatham, who participated in the study. "But preschoolers fail to anticipate in this way. Instead, they slow down and exert mental effort after being presented with the watermelon, as if they're thinking back to the character they had seen only after the fact."

The pupil measurements showed that 3-year-olds neither plan for the future nor live completely in the present. Instead, they call up the past as they need it.

"For example, let's say it's cold outside and you tell your 3-year-old to go get his jacket out of his bedroom and get ready to go outside," Chatham explained. "You might expect the child to plan for the future, [and] think, 'Okay, it's cold outside so the jacket will keep me warm.' But what we suggest is that this isn't what goes on in a 3-year-old's brain. Rather, they run outside, discover that it is cold, and then retrieve the memory of where their jacket is, and then they go get it."

(http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100235228>1=31045)

Have you ever Googled yourself?


That is something that you may consider of doing. Have you ever Googled yourself?

One fine day, when I have nothing to do.. (actually got a lot of things to do, but just not in the mood of doing it...sooooo) and I googled myself... and surprise, SURPRISE! There is a lot of me in cyber space!!! This is what I discovered:

1. My details for Translation jobs are easily available. Most of the sites I registered came out in the result.

2. The School of Graduate Studies UPM still have the list of students who graduates with a MSc Corporate Communication, on their site. The graduation session was the 1st session : 24th September 2005 - morning. At least it refresh my memory on the details. Hehehe

3. I am a member of MARES according to the announcement of members of MARES - 23 November 2007. I remember this group, as I used to spend lots of time with them during those day... (2,3 years ago)... but I lost contact with them for quite sometime now...I remember filling up the membership form... but I never knew what happened to it... now i know! A registered member who knows nothing about whatever that you suppose to know ... ahhaha... MARES - Malaysia Amateur Radio Emergency Service Society.

4. I am a member of TakingITGlobal... ok, this one I am aware of..

5. I am a member of the Global Alliance of the Youth Employment Summit, YES Campaign

6. This one shocked me the MOST! My article that written long long time ago is cataloged at the National Library! Search the OPAC - Online Public Access Catalogue... and my article is there! Under the type material - Serial / Journal / Newspaper article. Actually it was a magazine article and I wrote about "Youth & Management". (Ini yang buat semangat nak menulis balik nie... hehhee)

7. The reports that I wrote (as a rapporteur) during the 3rd GKP Global Knowledge in December 2007 is still available online

8. I am one of the 'Tenaga Pakar' (Expert Trainer) for Capital Skills Sdn Bhd

Enough discovery for one day...

Have you ever googled yourself? Go ahead and you will be surprise ...