We apply a new quantitative method for investigating how children's exploration changes across age in order to gain insight into how exploration unfolds over the course of a human life from a life-history perspective. In this study, different facets of exploratory play were quantified using a novel touchscreen environment across a large sample and wide age range of children in the USA (n= 105, ages = 1 year and 10 months to 12 years and 2 months). In contrast with previous theories that have suggested humans transition from more exploratory to less throughout maturation, we see children transition from less broadly exploratory as toddlers to more efficient and broad as adolescents. Our data cast doubt on the picture of human life history as involving a linear transition from more curious in early childhood to less curious with age. Instead, exploration appears to become more elaborate throughout human childhood.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

中文翻译：

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探索性游戏的阐述

我们应用一种新的定量方法来研究儿童的探索如何随着年龄的变化而变化，以便从生活史的角度深入了解探索在人类生命过程中是如何展开的。在这项研究中，使用新颖的触摸屏环境对美国大样本和广泛年龄范围的儿童的探索性游戏的不同方面进行了量化（n= 105，年龄 = 1 岁零 10 个月至 12 岁零 2 个月）。之前的理论认为，人类在整个成熟过程中会从更多的探索性转变为更少的探索性，而我们看到儿童从幼儿期的较少探索性过渡到青少年时期的高效和广泛性。我们的数据对人类生活史的图景提出了质疑，因为人类生活史涉及从幼儿期好奇心随着年龄的增长而好奇心减少的线性转变。相反，探索似乎在人类整个童年时期变得更加精细。本文是主题“生命史与学习：童年、照料和老年如何塑造人类和其他动物的认知和文化”的一部分。