Active learning is a critical component of human development, however, the mechanisms supporting it are not fully understood. Given that early learning experiences may affect both infants' immediate learning success, as well as their motivation to learn, it is particularly important to investigate the mechanisms of active learning in this period, when the foundations of learning habits and curiosity are built. Traditional behavioural approaches of studying infant learning face challenges that emerging tools from neuroscience may help relieve. We introduce one such tool, EEG theta oscillations, and propose this neural marker has great potential for offering novel insights into active learning. Theta activity, recorded prior to or during learning, has been shown to be predictive of learning success. We argue that this involvement in memory formation, combined with theta activity’s tight association with reward processing, makes theta oscillations a uniquely suited tool for the investigation of motivational mechanisms underlying active learning. We outline research questions as well as methodological approaches pertinent to infant learning and suggest how and why theta oscillations may offer complementary insights. As such, we aim to bridge the gap between cognitive and neural approaches, and advance our knowledge of active learning in development more broadly.

主动学习是人类发展的重要组成部分，然而，支持它的机制尚未完全了解。鉴于早期学习经历可能会影响婴儿立即学习的成功以及他们的学习动机，因此研究这一时期主动学习的机制尤为重要，因为这个时期是学习习惯和好奇心的基础。研究婴儿学习的传统行为方法面临着挑战，神经科学的新兴工具可能有助于缓解这些挑战。我们引入了这样一种工具，即脑电图θ振荡，并提出这种神经标记具有为主动学习提供新颖见解的巨大潜力。在学习之前或学习期间记录的 Theta 活动已被证明可以预测学习的成功。我们认为，这种对记忆形成的参与，加上 theta 活动与奖励处理的紧密联系，使得 theta 振荡成为研究主动学习背后的动机机制的独特工具。我们概述了与婴儿学习相关的研究问题和方法，并提出了 θ 振荡如何以及为何可以提供补充见解的建议。因此，我们的目标是弥合认知方法和神经方法之间的差距，并更广泛地推进我们对发展中主动学习的了解。