the same old odd one out

One of these things is not like the other

That there Belinda is very cunning; when i first tried to explain to her what my research would be about she listened for a bit then started singing this Seasame Street song. This was especially impressive because this was long before i had any idea myself what i was supposed to be doing.

Then, at a talk this week, I dreamt up a way of testing if babies could learn an particular odd one out rule (e.g. colour vs shape)

http://onemonkey.org/psycho/oddoneout.htm

Naturally, the song was running through my head as I planned it out.. Today a visit the homepage of Dr. Ulrike Hahn who recently joined our research team and see that this is something of an anthem in our field. It is worth quoting in full.

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn’t belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you’re absolutely…right!

Another version:

Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?
Now it’s time to play our game (time to play our game).

Bonus Version

Three of these kids belong together
Three of these kids are kind of the same
But one of these kids is doing his (her) own thing
Now it’s time to play our game
It’s time to play our game.

-Seasame Street

About caspar

Caspar is just one monkey among billions. Battering his keyboard without expectations even of peanuts, let alone of aping the Immortal Bard. By day he is an infantologist at Birkbeck Babylab, by night he runs BabyLaughter.net
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