The Surprising Power of Surprise - Qiong Cao

Year
2025
Tags
surprise
infant learning
cognitive development
violation of expectation
physical reasoning
social cognition
Goldilocks effect
attention
learning mechanisms
developmental psychology
baby cognition
AI inspiration
curiosity-driven learning
expectation violation
early learning strategies
MIT
Summary

Babies are exceptional learners, possibly because they use surprise to guide attention and learning. My research shows that infants learn more after surprising physical or social events. Adults show a Goldilocks effect—optimal learning from moderate surprise. Understanding surprise-based learning in babies may help improve future artificial intelligence systems.