Two-year-olds' search strategies and visual tracking in a hidden displacement task

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
11:18

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task

Published on: June 1, 2015

Samantha C Butler1, Neil E Berthier, Rachel K Clifton

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 01003, USA. samantha.butler@tch.harvard.edu

Developmental Psychology
|July 2, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Two-year-olds struggle with object permanence tasks, but 2.5-year-olds showed improved search performance when tracking a ball

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Object Permanence

Background:

  • Young children often fail search tasks involving hidden objects.
  • Understanding object permanence is crucial for cognitive development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate object permanence in young children (2.0 and 2.5 years old).
  • To examine how partial visual information affects search performance.

Main Methods:

  • Children observed a ball rolling behind a transparent screen with opaque doors.
  • A hidden barrier stopped the ball, obscuring its final location.
  • Participants were asked to find the ball's hiding place.

Main Results:

  • Both age groups tracked the ball equally well behind the screen.
  • 2.5-year-olds were significantly better at selecting the correct hiding door.
  • Tracking errors correlated with incorrect choices in younger children.

Conclusions:

  • Developing object permanence skills are evident by 2.5 years of age.
  • Visual tracking alone is insufficient for successful object search when the final location is hidden.
  • Attention and looking behavior are critical for successful object permanence tasks in toddlers.

More Related Videos

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Related Concept Videos

Symbolic Understanding II: Displaced Reference01:27

Symbolic Understanding II: Displaced Reference

Displaced reference is an important milestone in symbolic understanding that begins to emerge around 12 months of age. It is the ability to use words to refer to objects, people, or events that are not currently visible. This ability allows infants and toddlers to learn through communication even when objects or events are not directly present.Early DevelopmentBy approximately 12 to 13 months, infants may respond to the name of an absent familiar object by looking or pointing toward the place...
Object Concept During Infancy and Toddlerhood01:26

Object Concept During Infancy and Toddlerhood

According to Piaget, the object concept is the understanding that objects exist as separate entities with their own characteristics and locations. An important part of this concept is object permanence, the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is no longer visible. This ability develops gradually during the sensorimotor stage.Development of Object PermanenceAccording to Piaget, newborns do not yet show clear object permanence in search tasks. Between approximately five...
Vision During Infancy and Toddlerhood01:23

Vision During Infancy and Toddlerhood

At birth, vision is the least developed of the major senses because the visual system is still structurally and neurologically immature. The retinas, optic nerves, and visual regions of the brain continue to mature after birth. As a result, newborns have limited visual acuity, or sharpness and clarity of vision, and respond best to objects viewed at close range, roughly 8 to 12 inches away.Rapid Visual DevelopmentVision improves rapidly during the first few months as infants observe and...
Social Referencing During Infancy and Toddlerhood01:27

Social Referencing During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Social referencing is the process by which infants and young children use others’ emotional reactions to determine how to respond to unfamiliar or uncertain situations. Caregivers provide cues through facial expressions, tone of voice, and behavior, helping children judge whether an object or event is safe, threatening, or enjoyable. This ability supports emotional development, social learning, and adaptation to the surrounding environment.Development of Social ReferencingSocial referencing...