Dear all, We would like to invite you to the following talk by Hanna Marno, organized as part of the ELTE Cognitive Seminar series. Please note that the talk will start earlier than usual, at 13:00. ELTE Cognitive Seminar Invitation *Time and date:***13:00 (CET), Thursday, 18. 11. 2021 Speaker:Hanna Marno (Central European University, Eötvös LorándUniversity) Title:Learning from action observation: the importance of communication over efficiency Abstract:Ostensive cues, such as eye-contact or calling the other’s name are typically used to inform the addressee about our communicative intention. Furthermore, they can elicit an expectation of relevance about the communicated information, both in the case of adults and infants. During observational learning, would this expectation of relevance induce a bias to preferentially learn the communicated action demonstration, even at the expense of its observed efficiency? In my talk, I will present a series of studies testing whether toddlers and young children learn from their own observation of efficiency, assessed by statistical information on reliability of interventions, or from communicatively presented demonstrations, when these two potential types of evidence are contrasted with each other. The findings demonstrate that communicative sanctioning of reliability may override statistical evidence for young learners. Furthermore, our recent evidence with great apes also suggests that ostensive demonstration can elicit an expectation of relevance, potentially leading to a preference to learn from communication, as human children do. Zoom link: https://ppk-elte-hu.zoom.us/j/98328191343?pwd=aU14ZTI2RWh1U3d4cGdKVGtRZEJrZ… <https://ppk-elte-hu.zoom.us/j/98328191343?pwd=aU14ZTI2RWh1U3d4cGdKVGtRZEJrZz09> Meeting ID:  983 2819 1343 Passcode: 053884 We look forward to seeing you at the event, Zsuzsanna Nemecz Réka Schvajda organizers ELTE Department of Cognitive Psychology