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Related Experiment Videos

Developments in young infants' reasoning about occluded objects.

Andréa Aguiar1, Renée Baillargeon

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ont., Canada N2L 3G1.

Cognitive Psychology
|January 17, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Infants develop object permanence understanding by 3.5 months. They learn to expect visible objects behind occluders and infer two objects when events violate occlusion knowledge.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Infant Perception
  • Object Permanence

Background:

  • Early infant cognition research explores object understanding.
  • Occlusion events are crucial for studying object permanence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate developmental changes in 3- and 3.5-month-old infants' responses to occlusion events.
  • To model young infants' understanding of object visibility and occlusion.

Main Methods:

  • Eight experiments were conducted with 3- and 3.5-month-old infants.
  • Infants' reactions to various occlusion scenarios were observed and analyzed.

Main Results:

  • By 3 months, infants anticipate object visibility through occluder openings.

Related Experiment Videos

  • By 3.5 months, infants infer two objects to explain impossible occlusion events.

    • Conclusions:

    • Infants demonstrate developing knowledge of object occlusion rules.
    • Young infants can generate complex explanations for perceived violations of physical laws.