Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?

Translator: Amantia Gjikondi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

What is going on

Cfare po ndodh

in this baby's mind?

ne mendjen e kesaj bebeje?

If you'd asked people this 30 years ago,

Nese do t'i kishit pyetur njerezit per kete 30 vjet me pare,

most people, including psychologists,

shumica e njerezve, duke perfshire psikologet,

would have said that this baby was irrational,

do te kishin thene qe ky femije ishte iracional,

illogical, egocentric --

i palogjikshem, egocentrik --

that he couldn't take the perspective of another person

se ai nuk mund te merrte perspektivat e nje personi tjeter

or understand cause and effect.

ose te kuptonte shkakun dhe efektin.

In the last 20 years,

Ne 20 vitet e fundit,

developmental science has completely overturned that picture.

zhvillimi i shkences e ka permbysur perfundimisht ate imazh.

So in some ways,

Pra, ne nje fare menyre,

we think that this baby's thinking

ne mendojme qe mendimet e ketij femije

is like the thinking of the most brilliant scientists.

jane si mendimet e shkenctareve me te shkelqyer.

Let me give you just one example of this.

Me lejoni t'ju jap vetem nje shembull te kesaj.

One thing that this baby could be thinking about,

Nje gje qe ky femije mund te jete duke menduar,

that could be going on in his mind,

qe mund te jete duke i shkuar ne mendje,

is trying to figure out

eshte qe po mundohet te zbuloje

what's going on in the mind of that other baby.

cfare po ndodh ne mendjen e femijes tjeter.

After all, one of the things that's hardest for all of us to do

Mbi te gjitha, nje nga gjerat me te veshtire per te bere, per te gjithe ne

is to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling.

eshte te zbulojme se cfare po mendojne dhe ndjejne njerezit e tjere.

And maybe the hardest thing of all

Dhe ndoshta me e veshtira e te gjithave

is to figure out that what other people think and feel

eshte te zbulosh se ajo qe njerezit e tjere mendojne & ndjejne

isn't actually exactly like what we think and feel.

nuk eshte e njejte me ate qe ne mendojme dhe ndjejme.

Anyone who's followed politics can testify

Kushdo qe ka ndjekur politiken mund te deshmoje

to how hard that is for some people to get.

se sa e veshtire eshte per disa njerez per ta kuptuar.

We wanted to know

Ne donim te dinim

if babies and young children

nese bebet dhe femijet e vegjel

could understand this really profound thing about other people.

mund te kuptojne kete gje vertet te thelle rreth njerezve te tjere.

Now the question is: How could we ask them?

Tani pyetja eshte: Si mund ti pyesim ne ato?

Babies, after all, can't talk,

Bebet, pas te gjithave, nuk mund te flasin,

and if you ask a three year-old

dhe nese ju pyesni nje 3 vjecar

to tell you what he thinks,

per t'ju thene se cfare mendon,

what you'll get is a beautiful stream of consciousness monologue

ajo cka ju do te merrni eshte nje lume i bukur monologu rreth vetedijes

about ponies and birthdays and things like that.

rreth kuajve te vegjel e ditelindjeve dhe gjerave te ngjashme me keto.

So how do we actually ask them the question?

Pra, si u bejme atyre pyetjen ne te vertete?

Well it turns out that the secret was broccoli.

E pra, del se sekreti ishte brokoli.

What we did -- Betty Rapacholi, who was one of my students, and I --

Ajo qe beme -- une dhe Betty Rapacholi, nje prej studenteve te mia, --

was actually to give the babies two bowls of food:

ishte pikerisht ti jepje bebeve dy tasa me ushqime:

one bowl of raw broccoli

nje tas me brokoli te gjalle

and one bowl of delicious goldfish crackers.

dhe nje tas me biskota te shijshme ne forme peshku.

Now all of the babies, even in Berkley,

Tani te gjithe femijet, edhe ne Berkley,

like the crackers and don't like the raw broccoli.

pelqyen biskotat dhe nuk pelqyen brokolin e gjalle.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

But then what Betty did

Por, ajo qe beri Betty

was to take a little taste of food from each bowl.

ishte qe provonte pak nga ushqimet ne secilin tas.

And she would act as if she liked it or she didn't.

Dhe ajo do te reagonte sikur do ti pelqente ose jo.

So half the time, she acted

Keshtu qe gjysmen e kohes, ajo reagoi

as if she liked the crackers and didn't like the broccoli --

sikur do te pelqente biskotat dhe nuk do te pelqente brokolin --

just like a baby and any other sane person.

njelloj si bebet dhe cdo person tjeter normal.

But half the time,

Por gjysmen e kohes,

what she would do is take a little bit of the broccoli

ajo cka do te bente ishte te merrte pak nga brokoli

and go, "Mmmmm, broccoli.

dhe te reagonte, "Mmmmmm, brokoli.

I tasted the broccoli. Mmmmm."

Une e provova brokolin, Mmmmm."

And then she would take a little bit of the crackers,

Dhe me pas ajo do te merrte pak nga biskotat,

and she'd go, "Eww, yuck, crackers.

dhe do te reagonte, "Iiiii, e keqe, biskota.

I tasted the crackers. Eww, yuck."

Une i provova biskotat, Iiiiii, e keqe."

So she'd act as if what she wanted

Pra, ajo do te reagonte sikur ajo qe donte

was just the opposite of what the babies wanted.

ishte e kunderta e asaj qe donin bebet.

We did this with 15 and 18 month-old babies.

Ne e realizuam kete me bebet 15 - 18 muajsh.

And then she would simply put her hand out and say,

Dhe me pas ajo do te zgjaste doren dhe do te thoshte,

"Can you give me some?"

"A do te me japesh ca mua?"

So the question is: What would the baby give her,

Pra, pyetja eshte: Cfare do t'i jepte bebja asaj,

what they liked or what she liked?

ate qe ato pelqenin apo ate qe ajo pelqente?

And the remarkable thing was that 18 month-old babies,

Dhe gjeja me e mrekullueshme ishte qe bebet 18 muajshe,

just barely walking and talking,

qe akoma nuk ecnin dhe flisnin,

would give her the crackers if she liked the crackers,

do ti jepnin asaj biskotat nese ajo kishte qejf biskotat,

but they would give her the broccoli if she liked the broccoli.

dhe do ti jepnin asaj brokoli nese ajo kishte qejf brokolit.

On the other hand,

Nga ana tjeter,

15 month-olds would stare at her for a long time

bebet 15 muajshe do t'a veshtronin per nje kohe te gjate ate

if she acted as if she liked the broccoli,

nese ajo reagonte qe pelqente brokolit

like they couldn't figure this out.

sikur nuk mund ta kuptonin.

But then after they stared for a long time,

Por, pasi e kishin veshtruar per nje kohe te gjate,

they would just give her the crackers,

ato do ti jepnin asaj vetem biskotat,

what they thought everybody must like.

ajo qe ato mendonin qe cdokush do i pelqente.

So there are two really remarkable things about this.

Keshtu qe jane dy gjera vertet te mrekullueshme rreth kesaj.

The first one is that these little 18 month-old babies

E para eshte qe keto bebe 18 muajshe

have already discovered

e kane zbuluar tashme

this really profound fact about human nature,

kete fakt vertet te thelle rreth natyres njerezore,

that we don't always want the same thing.

qe ne nuk duam gjithnje te njejtat gjera.

And what's more, they felt that they should actually do things

Dhe per me teper, ato ndiheshin qe ato ne te vertete duhet te benin gjera

to help other people get what they wanted.

per te ndihmuar qe njerezit e tjere te merrnin qe donin.

Even more remarkably though,

Edhe per me teper,

the fact that 15 month-olds didn't do this

fakti qe 15 muajshet nuk e bene kete

suggests that these 18 month-olds had learned

sugjeron qe keto bebe 18 muajshe kane mesuar

this deep, profound fact about human nature

kete fakt te veshtire, te thelle te natyres njerezore

in the three months from when they were 15 months old.

per 3 muaj qe kur ato ishin 15 muajsh.

So children both know more and learn more

Keshtu qe femijet dine me shume dhe mesojne me shume

than we ever would have thought.

nga ajo cka ne kemi menduar.

And this is just one of hundreds and hundreds of studies over the last 20 years

Dhe kjo eshte vetem nje e qindra - qindra studimeve gjate 20 viteve te fundit

that's actually demonstrated it.

qe eshte treguar me fakt.

The question you might ask though is:

Pyetja qe mund te beni eshte:

Why do children learn so much?

Pse femijet mesojne kaq shume?

And how is it possible for them to learn so much

Dhe si eshte e mundur per ato te mesojne kaq shume

in such a short time?

ne nje kohe kaq te shkurter?

I mean, after all, if you look at babies superficially,

Dua te them, pas te gjithave, nese i shihni bebet siperfaqesisht

they seem pretty useless.

ato duken mjaft te padobishem.

And actually in many ways, they're worse than useless,

Dhe ne te vertete ne shume menyra, ato jane me se te padobishem

because we have to put so much time and energy

sepse na duhet te japim shume kohe dhe energji

into just keeping them alive.

vetem per ti mbajtur ato gjalle.

But if we turn to evolution

Por nese kthehemi tek evolucioni

for an answer to this puzzle

per nje pergjigje te ketij misteri

of why we spend so much time

qe pse shpenzojme kaq shume kohe

taking care of useless babies,

duke u kujdesur per bebe te padobishme,

it turns out that there's actually an answer.

na rezulton qe ne te vertete ka nje pergjigje.

If we look across many, many different species of animals,

Nese shohim neper shume, shume specie te ndryshme kafshesh.

not just us primates,

jo vetem tek ne primatet,

but also including other mammals, birds,

por gjithashtu duke perfshire gjitaret e tjere, zogjte,

even marsupials

madje edhe marsupialet

like kangaroos and wombats,

si kanguret dhe urithet,

it turns out that there's a relationship

rezulton qe ka nje lidhje

between how long a childhood a species has

midis kohezgjatjes se femijerise qe ka nje specie

and how big their brains are compared to their bodies

dhe sa shume mendjet e tyre krahasohen me trupat

and how smart and flexible they are.

dhe sa te zgjuar dhe fleksibel ato jane.

And sort of the posterbirds for this idea are the birds up there.

Dhe nje lloj tabloje per kete ide jane zogjte ne qiell.

On one side

Ne nje ane

is a New Caledonian crow.

eshte nje sorre ne Kaledonine e Re.

And crows and other corvidae, ravens, rooks and so forth,

Dhe sorrat dhe korvidianet e tjere, korbat, dhe keshtu me rradhe,

are incredibly smart birds.

jane zogj teper te zgjuar.

They're as smart as chimpanzees in some respects.

Ato jane ne disa aspekte aq te zgjuar sa shimpazete.

And this is a bird on the cover of science

Dhe ky eshte nje zog ne kopertinen e shkences

who's learned how to use a tool to get food.

qe ka mesuar sesi te perdore mjetin per te marre ushqimin.

On the other hand,

Nga ana tjeter,

we have our friend the domestic chicken.

ne kemi miken tone, pulen shtepiake.

And chickens and ducks and geese and turkeys

Dhe pulat, dhe rosat, dhe patat dhe gjeli i detit

are basically as dumb as dumps.

jane ne thelb shume budallenj.

So they're very, very good at pecking for grain,

Ata jane shume, shume te mire per te cukitur grurin,

and they're not much good at doing anything else.

por nuk jane te zote te bejne asgje tjeter.

Well it turns out that the babies,

E pra kjo rezulton qe bebet,

the New Caledonian crow babies, are fledglings.

bebet e sorrave te Caledonise se Re, jane zogj te vegjel.

They depend on their moms

Ato varen nga mamate e tyre

to drop worms in their little open mouths

per t'u hedhur krimba ne gojezat e tyre te hapura

for as long as two years,

per aq gjate sa dy vjet,

which is a really long time in the life of a bird.

qe eshte nje kohe shume e gjate ne jeten e nje zogu.

Whereas the chickens are actually mature

Kurse pulat ne te vertete maturohen

within a couple of months.

brenda disa muajsh.

So childhood is the reason

Keshtu qe femijeria eshte arsyeja

why the crows end up on the cover of Science

pse sorrat perfundojne ne kopertinen e Shkences

and the chickens end up in the soup pot.

dhe pulat perfundojne ne tenxheren e supes.

There's something about that long childhood

Ka dicka per kete femijeri te gjate

that seems to be connected

qe duket qe te jete e lidhur

to knowledge and learning.

me njohuri dhe te mesuar.

Well what kind of explanation could we have for this?

Epo, cfare lloj shpjegimi mund te kemi ne per kete?

Well some animals, like the chicken,

Disa kafshe, si pulat,

seem to be beautifully suited

duket sikur jane mire te pershtatura

to doing just one thing very well.

per te bere shume mire vetem nje gje.

So they seem to be beautifully suited

Keshtu qe ato duken sikur jane mire te pershtatura

to pecking grain in one environment.

per te cukitur grure ne nje mjedis.

Other creatures, like the crows,

Krijesat e tjera, si sorrat,

aren't very good at doing anything in particular,

nuk jane shume te mire per te bere asgje ne vecanti,

but they're extremely good

por ato jane me te vertete te zote

at learning about laws of different environments.

per te mesuar rreth ligjeve te mjediseve te ndryshme.

And of course, we human beings

Dhe sigurisht, ne qeniet njerezore

are way out on the end of the distribution like the crows.

jemi ne fund te kurbes se shperndarjes si sorrat.

We have bigger brains relative to our bodies

Ne kemi trurin me te madh krahasuar me trupin tone

by far than any other animal.

me te madh nga cdo kafshe tjeter.

We're smarter, we're more flexible,

Ne jemi me te zgjuar, ne jemi me fleksibel,

we can learn more,

ne mund te mesojme me shume,

we survive in more different environments,

ne mbijetojme ne shume ambjente te ndryshme,

we migrated to cover the world and even go to outer space.

ne migruam ne gjithe boten dhe madje shkuam ne hapesire.

And our babies and children are dependent on us

Dhe bebet dhe femijet tane jane te varur nga ne

for much longer than the babies of any other species.

per nje kohe me te gjate sesa bebet e llojeve te tjera.

My son is 23.

Djali im eshte 23 vjec.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

And at least until they're 23,

Dhe te pakten derisa ata jane 23,

we're still popping those worms

jemi akoma duke i ushqyer ata me krimba

into those little open mouths.

ne gojezat e tyre te hapura.

All right, why would we see this correlation?

Atehere, pse duhet ta shohim kete korrelacion?

Well an idea is that that strategy, that learning strategy,

E pra, nje ide eshte qe kjo strategji, kjo strategji e te mesuarit,

is an extremely powerful, great strategy for getting on in the world,

eshte me te vertete e fuqishme, strategji e madhe per te avancuar ne bote,

but it has one big disadvantage.

por ka nje disavantazh te madh.

And that one big disadvantage

Dhe ky disavantazh i madh

is that, until you actually do all that learning,

eshte qe, derisa te besh te gjithe ate te mesuar,

you're going to be helpless.

ti je i pazoti.

So you don't want to have the mastodon charging at you

Pra ju nuk doni te keni keto mastodonte t'ju akuzojne ju

and be saying to yourself,

dhe te jeni duke i thene vetes,

"A slingshot or maybe a spear might work. Which would actually be better?"

"Nje llastik ose ndoshta nje shtize mund te punoje. Cila do te ishte me mire?"

You want to know all that

Ti do ta dish te gjithe kete

before the mastodons actually show up.

perpara se mastodontet te shfaqen.

And the way the evolutions seems to have solved that problem

Dhe menyra sesi evolucioni duket te kete zgjidhur kete problem

is with a kind of division of labor.

eshte me nje lloj ndarjeje te punes.

So the idea is that we have this early period when we're completely protected.

Pra ideja eshte qe ne kete periudhe te heret kur jemi plotesisht te mbrojtur,

We don't have to do anything. All we have to do is learn.

nuk na duhet te bejme asgje. Gjithcka qe na duhet te bejme eshte te mesojme.

And then as adults,

Dhe me pas si te rritur,

we can take all those things that we learned when we were babies and children

ne mund te marrim te gjitha keto gjera qe kemi mesuar kur kemi qene bebe dhe femije

and actually put them to work to do things out there in the world.

dhe ti vendosim ato ne pune per te bere gjera ne boten jashte.

So one way of thinking about it

Pra, nje menyre per te menduar rreth kesaj

is that babies and young children

eshte qe bebet dhe femijet e vegjel

are like the research and development division of the human species.

jane si sektori i kerkimeve dhe zhvillimit te species njerezore.

So they're the protected blue sky guys

Pra, ata jane shkencetare te mbrojtur

who just have to go out and learn and have good ideas,

qe duhet vetem te dalin e te mesojne dhe te kene ide te mira,

and we're production and marketing.

dhe ne jemi prodhimi dhe marketingu.

We have to take all those ideas

Duhet t'i marrim te gjitha keto ide

that we learned when we were children

qe mesuam kur ishim femije

and actually put them to use.

edhe ti vendosim ne pune aktualisht.

Another way of thinking about it

Nje menyre tjeter per te menduar rreth kesaj

is instead of thinking of babies and children

eshte qe ne vend qe t'i shohim bebet dhe femijet

as being like defective grownups,

si te rritur te manget

we should think about them

ne duhet te mendojme rreth tyre

as being a different developmental stage of the same species --

si individe ne nje faze te ndryshme te zhvillimit te te njejtit specie --

kind of like caterpillars and butterflies --

sic jane vemjet dhe fluturat --

except that they're actually the brilliant butterflies

pervec se ato jane vertete flutura te shkelqyera

who are flitting around the garden and exploring,

qe fluturojne rreth kopshtit dhe eksplorojne,

and we're the caterpillars

dhe ne jemi vemjet

who are inching along our narrow, grownup, adult path.

qe perparojne gradualisht gjate shtegut te ngushte te te rriturve.

If this is true, if these babies are designed to learn --

Nese kjo eshte e vertete, nese keto bebe jane dizenjuar per te mesuar --

and this evolutionary story would say children are for learning,

dhe historia e evolucionit do te thote qe femijet jane atje per te mesuar,

that's what they're for --

kjo eshte arsyeja qe ekzistojne --

we might expect

ne mund te presim

that they would have really powerful learning mechanisms.

qe ato te zoterojne mekanizma shume te fuqishem te te mesuarit.

And in fact, the baby's brain

Dhe ne te vertete, truri i bebeve

seems to be the most powerful learning computer

duket te jete kompjuteri me i fuqishem i te mesuarit

on the planet.

ne planet.

But real computers are actually getting to be a lot better.

Por kompjuterat e vertete jane duke u bere gjithnje e me te mire.

And there's been a revolution

Dhe kohet e fundit ka ndodhur nje revolucion

in our understanding of machine learning recently.

ne te kuptuarit e makines se te mesuarit.

And it all depends on the ideas of this guy,

Dhe cdo gje varet ne idete e ketij djali,

the Reverend Thomas Bayes,

Reverend Thomas Bayes,

who was a statistician and mathematician in the 18th century.

qe ishte nje statisticien dhe matematikan ne shekujt 18.

And essentially what Bayes did

Dhe ne thelb cfare Bayes beri

was to provide a mathematical way

ishte per te provuar nje rruge matematike

using probability theory

duke perdorur teori te probabilitetit

to characterize, describe,

per te karakterizuar, pershkruar,

the way that scientists find out about the world.

menyrat qe shkenctaret zbulonin rreth botes.

So what scientists do

Pra, cfare shkenctaret bejne

is they have a hypothesis that they think might be likely to start with.

eshte qe ato kane nje hipoteze per te cilen mendojne se mund te jete e mundur per te filluar.

They go out and test it against the evidence.

Ato shkojne jashte dhe e testojne ate kunder provave.

The evidence makes them change that hypothesis.

Evidencat i bejne ato te ndryshojne kete hipoteze.

Then they test that new hypothesis

Me pas ato testojne ate hipoteze te re

and so on and so forth.

dhe keshtu me rradhe.

And what Bayes showed was a mathematical way that you could do that.

Dhe cfare Bayes tregoi ishte menyra matematika se si mund te behej.

And that mathematics is at the core

Dhe kjo matematike eshte ne thelb

of the best machine learning programs that we have now.

te programeve me te mire te makines se te mesuarit qe ne kemi tani.

And some 10 years ago,

Dhe rreth 10 vjet me pare,

I suggested that babies might be doing the same thing.

une sugjerova qe bebet mund te bejne te njejten gje.

So if you want to know what's going on

Keshtu qe nese doni te dini cfare po ndodh

underneath those beautiful brown eyes,

poshte ketyre syve te bukur kafe,

I think it actually looks something like this.

une mendoj qe ne fakt duket dicka si kjo.

This is Reverend Bayes's notebook.

Ky eshte libri i shenimeve te Reverend Bayes.

So I think those babies are actually making complicated calculations

Pra, mendoj qe keto femije jane duke bere llogaritje te komplikuara

with conditional probabilities that they're revising

me probabilitete kushtezuese qe jane duke rishikuar

to figure out how the world works.

per te zbuluar sesi funksionon bota.

All right, now that might seem like an even taller order to actually demonstrate.

Ne rregull, tani kjo mund te duket si nje menyre akoma me e persosur per ta demonstruar.

Because after all, if you ask even grownups about statistics,

Sepse ne fund te fundit, edhe nese pyet te rriturit rreth statistikave,

they look extremely stupid.

ato duken shume te trashe.

How could it be that children are doing statistics?

Si mund te jete e mundur qe femijet jane duke bere statistike?

So to test this we used a machine that we have

Keshtu qe per te testuar kete ne perdorem nje makine qe kishim

called the Blicket Detector.

te quajtur Detektori Blicket..

This is a box that lights up and plays music

Kjo eshte nje kuti qe ndricon dhe luan muzike

when you put some things on it and not others.

kur vendos disa objekte mbi te dhe jo te tjerat.

And using this very simple machine,

Dhe per te perdorur kete makine shume te thjeshte,

my lab and others have done dozens of studies

laboratori im por edhe te tjerat kane bere me dhjetra studime

showing just how good babies are

per te treguar sesa te zote jane femijet

at learning about the world.

per te mesuarit rreth botes.

Let me mention just one

Me lejoni t'ju permend vetem njeren

that we did with Tumar Kushner, my student.

qe beme me studentin tim, Tumar Kushner.

If I showed you this detector,

Nese une ju tregoj kete detektor,

you would be likely to think to begin with

do te filloni te mendoni me faktin

that the way to make the detector go

qe menyra per te bere detektorin te funksionoje

would be to put a block on top of the detector.

do te jete te vendosesh nje bllok te detektorit.

But actually, this detector

Por ne te vertete, ky detektor

works in a bit of a strange way.

punon ne nje menyre pak te cuditshme.

Because if you wave a block over the top of the detector,

Pasi nese leviz nje bllok permbi detektorin,

something you wouldn't ever think of to begin with,

do te ndodhe dicka qe as nuk mund ta keni imagjinuar,

the detector will actually activate two out of three times.

pasi detektori vertete do te aktivizohet dy nga te tri heret.

Whereas, if you do the likely thing, put the block on the detector,

Ndersa, nese beni te njejten gje, duke vendosur bllokun mbi detektorin

it will only activate two out of six times.

do te aktivizohet vetem dy nga gjashte heret.

So the unlikely hypothesis

Pra, hipoteza e pamundur

actually has stronger evidence.

ne te vertete ka evidenca te forta.

It looks as if the waving

Duket sikur levizja

is a more effective strategy than the other strategy.

eshte nje strategji me efektive sesa strategjia tjeter.

So we did just this; we gave four year-olds this pattern of evidence,

Pra, ne beme tamam kete; i dhame nje kater vjecari kete model prove,

and we just asked them to make it go.

dhe vetem i kerkuam per ta bere te funksionoje.

And sure enough, the four year-olds used the evidence

Dhe pa dyshim, kater vjecari e perdori kete fakt

to wave the object on top of the detector.

per te levizur objektin permbi detektorin.

Now there are two things that are really interesting about this.

Tani jane dy gjera qe jane vertet interesante rreth kesaj.

The first one is, again, remember, these are four year-olds.

E para eshte, perseri, mos harroni qe keto jane kater vjecare.

They're just learning how to count.

Ato sa po mesojne sesi te numerojne.

But unconsciously,

Por ne menyre te pandergjegjshme

they're doing these quite complicated calculations

ato jane duke bere keto llogaritje te komplikuara

that will give them a conditional probability measure.

qe do tu jape atyre nje mase te probabilitetit te kushtezuar .

And the other interesting thing

Dhe gjeja tjeter interesante

is that they're using that evidence

eshte qe e perdorin kete fakt

to get to an idea, get to a hypothesis about the world,

per te krijuar nje ide, per te ndertuar nje hipoteze per boten,

that seems very unlikely to begin with.

qe duket shume e pashprese per ta filluar.

And in studies we've just been doing in my lab, similar studies,

Dhe ne studimet qe kemi bere ne laboratorin tim, studime te ngjashme

we've show that four year-olds are actually better

ne kemi zbuluar qe kater vjecaret jane vertete me te zote

at finding out an unlikely hypothesis

per te zbuluar nje hipoteze te pashprese

than adults are when we give them exactly the same task.

sesa te rriturit kur ne i japim atyre saktesisht te njejten detyre.

So in these circumstances,

Keshtu qe ne keto rrethana,

the children are using statistics to find out about the world,

femijet perdorin statistikat per te zbuluar boten,

but after all, scientists also do experiments,

por ne fund te fundit, shkenctaret gjithashtu bejne eksperimente,

and we wanted to see if children are doing experiments.

dhe ne donim te shihnim nese femijet jane duke bere eksperimente.

When children do experiments we call it "getting into everything"

Kur femijet bejne eksperimente ne e quajme ate "duke u marre me cdo gje"

or else "playing."

ose tjeter "duke luajtur".

And there's been a bunch of interesting studies recently

Dhe kane qene nje sere studimesh interesante te bera se fundmi

that have shown this playing around

qe kane treguar qe kjo loje

is really a kind of experimental research program.

eshte me te vertete nje program eskperimental kerkimi.

Here's one from Cristine Legare's lab.

Ja ku eshte nje nga laboratori i Cristine Legare.

What Cristine did was use our Blicket Detectors.

Ajo qe beri Cristine, ishte te perdorte Detektorin tone Blicket.

And what she did was show children

Dhe ajo qe beri ishte ti tregonte femijeve

that yellow ones made it go and red ones didn't,

qe e verdha e bente ate te punonte dhe e kuqja jo,

and then she showed them an anomaly.

dhe me pas i tregoi atyre nje paradoks.

And what you'll see

Dhe ajo cka ju do te shihni

is that this little boy will go through five hypotheses

eshte qe ky djale i vogel do shkoje permes pese hipotezave

in the space of two minutes.

ne hapesiren e dy minutave.

(Video) Boy: How about this?

(Video) Djali: Po rreth kesaj?

Same as the other side.

Njesoj si ne anen tjeter.

Alison Gopnik: Okay, so his first hypothesis has just been falsified.

Alison Gopnik: Ne rregull, pra hipoteza e tij e pare sapo eshte falsifikuar.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

Boy: This one lighted up, and this one nothing.

Djali: Kjo ndricoi, dhe tek kjo tjetra asgje.

AG: Okay, he's got his experimental notebook out.

AG: Mire, ai nxjerr bllokun e shenimeve te tij eksperimentale.

Boy: What's making this light up.

Djali: Cfare e ben kete drite te ndizet?

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

I don't know.

Une nuk e di.

AG: Every scientist will recognize that expression of despair.

AG: Cdo shkencetar do e njihte kete shprehje deshperimi.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

Boy: Oh, it's because this needs to be like this,

Djali: Oh, kjo ndodh sepse kjo duhet te jete ne kete menyre,

and this needs to be like this.

dhe kjo tjetra ne kete menyre.

AG: Okay, hypothesis two.

AG: Ne rregull, hipoteza numer dy.

Boy: That's why.

Djali: Ja perse.

Oh.

Oh.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

AG: Now this is his next idea.

AG: Tani kjo eshte ideja tjeter e tij.

He told the experimenter to do this,

Ai i tha eksperimentuesit per te bere kete,

to try putting it out onto the other location.

per te provuar per ti vendosur ato ne vendodhje te tjera.

Not working either.

Akoma s'eshte duke funksionuar.

Boy: Oh, because the light goes only to here,

Djali: Oh, kjo ndodh sepse drita shkon vetem ketej,

not here.

jo ketu.

Oh, the bottom of this box

Oh, fundi i kesaj kutie

has electricity in here,

ka elektricitet,

but this doesn't have electricity.

dhe kjo tjetra nuk ka elektricitet.

AG: Okay, that's a fourth hypothesis.

AG. Ne rregull, kjo eshte hipoteza e katert.

Boy: It's lighting up.

Djali: U ndez.

So when you put four.

Pra, kur vendos kater.

So you put four on this one to make it light up

Pra, duhet te vendosesh kater mbi kete per ta bere te ndricoje

and two on this one to make it light up.

dhe dy tek kjo tjetra.

AG: Okay,there's his fifth hypothesis.

AG: Mire, pra kjo ishte hipoteza e tij e peste.

Now that is a particularly --

Tashme ky --

that is a particularly adorable and articulate little boy,

eshte nje djale i vogel vecanerisht i adhurueshem dhe i qarte,

but what Cristine discovered is this is actually quite typical.

por ajo cka Cristine zbuloi eshte qe ky fakt eshte mjaft tipik.

If you look at the way children play, when you ask them to explain something,

Nese shihni rreth menyres sesi luajne femijet, kur i kerkonin atyre per t'ju shpjeguar dicka,

what they really do is do a series of experiments.

ajo cka ne te vertete ato bejne eshte qe realizojne nje sere eksperimentesh.

This is actually pretty typical of four year-olds.

Kjo eshte pikerisht shume tipike per nje kater vjecar.

Well, what's it like to be this kind of creature?

Por, si eshte te jesh kjo lloj qenieje?

What's it like to be one of these brilliant butterflies

Si eshte te jesh njera prej ketyre fluturave te shkelqyera

who can test five hypotheses in two minutes?

qe mund te testojne pese hipozeza ne dy minuta?

Well, if you go back to those psychologists and philosophers,

E pra, nese kthehemi tek psikologet dhe filozofet,

a lot of them have said

shume prej tyre kane thene

that babies and young children were barely conscious

qe bebet dhe femijet e vegjel ishin pak te vetedijshem

if they were conscious at all.

nese ishin te vetedijshem ne cdo gje.

And I think just the opposite is true.

Dhe une mendoj qe vetem e kunderta eshte e vertete.

I think babies and children are actually more conscious than we are as adults.

Une mendoj qe bebet dhe femijet jane ne te vertete me te vetedijshem sesa jemi ne si te rritur.

Now here's what we know about how adult consciousness works.

Kjo eshte ajo qe ne dime sesi vetedija e nje te rrituri funksionon.

And adults' attention and consciousness

Dhe vemendja e vetedija e nje te rrituri

look kind of like a spotlight.

duket si nje perqendrim i vemendjes.

So what happens for adults

Pra, ajo cka ndodh me te rriturit

is we decide that something's relevant or important,

eshte qe ne vendosim qe dicka eshte perkatese ose e rendesishme,

we should pay attention to it.

duhet ti kushtojme vemendje asaj.

Our consciousness of that thing that we're attending to

Vetedja jone rreth asaj gjeje qe po ndjekim

becomes extremely bright and vivid,

behet plotesisht me drite dhe jete,

and everything else sort of goes dark.

dhe cdo gje tjeter bie ne erresire.

And we even know something about the way the brain does this.

Dhe ne dime dicka rreth menyres sesi truri jone e ben kete.

So what happens when we pay attention

Pra, cfare ndodh kur ne kushtojme vemendje

is that the prefrontal cortex, the sort of executive part of our brains,

eshte qe korteksi jone paraballor, nje lloj pjese ekzekutive e trurit tone,

sends a signal

na dergon nje sinjal

that makes a little part of our brain much more flexible,

qe ben nje pjese te vogel te trurit tone shume me fleksibel,

more plastic, better at learning,

me plastik, me te mire ne te mesuar,

and shuts down activity

dhe mbyll aktivitetet

in all the rest of our brains.

ne te gjithe pjesen tjeter te trurit tone.

So we have a very focused, purpose-driven kind of attention.

Pra, ne kemi nje vemendje shume te fokusuar, nje lloj qellimi te drejtuar.

If we look at babies and young children,

Nese shohim bebet dhe femijet e vegjel,

we see something very different.

ne shohim dicka shume te ndryshme.

I think babies and young children

Une mendoj qe bebet dhe femijet e vegjel

seem to have more of a lantern of consciousness

duket se kane me shume nje fanar te ndergjegjes

than a spotlight of consciousness.

sesa nje fokusim te ndergjegjes.

So babies and young children are very bad

Pra, bebet dhe femijet e vegjel jane shume te pazote

at narrowing down to just one thing.

per tu fokusuar vetem ne nje gje.

But they're very good at taking in lots of information

Por ato jane shume te zote per te marre nje sere informacionesh

from lots of different sources at once.

prej nje sere burimesh ne te njejten kohe.

And if you actually look in their brains,

Dhe nese ju shihni ne trurin e tyre,

you see that they're flooded with these neurotransmitters

ju shihni qe ato jane te permbytur me keto neurotransmetues

that are really good at inducing learning and plasticity,

qe jane shume te mire per te nxitur te mesuarin dhe plasticitetin,

and the inhibitory parts haven't come on yet.

dhe pjeset frenuese nuk jane aktivizuar akoma.

So when we say that babies and young children

Keshtu qe kur ne themi qe bebet dhe femijet e vegjel

are bad at paying attention,

jane te dobet ndaj te kushtuarit vemendje,

what we really mean is that they're bad at not paying attention.

ajo cka ne nenkuptojme eshte qe ato jane te dobet per te mos kushtuar vemendje.

So they're bad at getting rid

Pra ato jane te dobet per t'u shpetuar

of all the interesting things that could tell them something

te gjithe gjerave interesante qe mund t'u thone atyre dicka

and just looking at the thing that's important.

dhe te koncentrohen vetem te gjerat qe jane te rendesishme.

That's the kind of attention, the kind of consciousness,

Ky eshte lloji i vemendjes, lloji i vetedijes

that we might expect

qe ne mund te presim

from those butterflies who are designed to learn.

nga keto flutura qe jane te dizenjuara per te mesuar.

Well if we want to think about a way

E pra, nese duam te mendojme rreth menyres

of getting a taste of that kind of baby consciousness as adults,

se si te provojme shijen e asaj lloj vetedije feminore si te rritur,

I think the best thing is think about cases

menyra me e mire eshte te mendoj rreth ceshtjeve

where we're put in a new situation that we've never been in before --

kur ne jemi te vendosur ne nje situate te re qe nuk kemi qene perpara -

when we fall in love with someone new,

kur ne dashurohemi me nje person te ri,

or when we're in a new city for the first time.

ose kur ne jemi ne nje qytet te ri per here te pare.

And what happens then is not that our consciousness contracts,

Dhe cfare ndodh me pas nuk eshte qe vetedija jone tkurret,

it expands,

ajo zhvillohet,

so that those three days in Paris

keshtu qe ato tre dite ne Paris

seem to be more full of consciousness and experience

duken qe jane te mbushura me vetedije dhe eksperience

than all the months of being

sesa te gjitha muajt qe ishim duke

a walking, talking, faculty meeting-attending zombie back home.

ecur, folur, ndjekur mbledhjet e fakultetit si mumje dhe kthehu ne shtepi.

And by the way, that coffee,

Dhe, meqe ra fjala, ajo kafe,

that wonderful coffee you've been drinking downstairs,

ajo kafe e mrekullueshme qe ke qene duke pire aty poshte,

actually mimics the effect

ne te vertete minimizon efektin

of those baby neurotransmitters.

te atyre neurotransmetuesve te bebes.

So what's it like to be a baby?

Pra, si eshte te jesh bebe?

It's like being in love

Eshte si te jesh ne dashuri

in Paris for the first time

ne Paris per here te pare

after you've had three double-espressos.

pasi ke marre tre dopio ekspreso.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

That's a fantastic way to be,

Kjo eshte nje menyre fantastike per te qene,

but it does tend to leave you waking up crying at three o'clock in the morning.

por do te thote te zgjohesh me te qara ne tre te mengjesit.

(Laughter)

(Qeshje)

Now it's good to be a grownup.

Eshte bukur te jesh nje i rritur.

I don't want to say too much about how wonderful babies are.

Une nuk dua te them shume sesa te mrekullueshme jane bebet .

It's good to be a grownup.

Eshte bukur te jesh nje i rritur.

We can do things like tie our shoelaces and cross the street by ourselves.

Ne mund te bejme gjera si te lidhim kepucet tona dhe te kalojme rrugen vete.

And it makes sense that we put a lot of effort

Dhe ka kuptim qe ne bejme shume perpjekje

into making babies think like adults do.

per ti bere bebet te mendojne ashtu si te rriturit.

But if what we want is to be like those butterflies,

Por nese duam qe te jemi si keto flutura,

to have open-mindedness, open learning,

qe te kemi nje mendje te hapur, studim te hapur,

imagination, creativity, innovation,

imagjnate, kreativitet, inovacion,

maybe at least some of the time

ndoshta te pakten per nje pjese te kohes

we should be getting the adults

do te na duhet t'i bejme te rriturit

to start thinking more like children.

te fillojne te mendojne me shume si femijet.

(Applause)

(Duatrokitje)