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Published on: April 19, 2017
Object permanence in young infants: further evidence
1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign 61820.
Child Development
|December 1, 1991
Summary
Infants as young as 3.5 months demonstrate object permanence, understanding that hidden objects continue to exist. This study provides further evidence of early cognitive abilities in young infants.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Perception
Background:
- Object permanence, the understanding that objects persist when out of sight, is a key developmental milestone.
- Previous research indicated object permanence in infants as young as 4.5 and 3.5 months.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide converging evidence for object permanence in infants aged 3.5 months and older.
- To investigate infants' ability to represent and reason about hidden objects.
Main Methods:
- Utilized established object permanence paradigms with 3.5-month-old and 4.0-month-old infants.
- Employed a carrot experiment where infants' looking times indicated surprise at unexpected outcomes.
- Used a car and mouse experiment to assess infants' understanding of object interactions behind a screen.
Main Results:
- 3.5-month-olds looked longer at an "impossible" event involving a tall carrot, suggesting they represented its existence and expected it to appear.
- 4.0-month-old female infants showed differential looking times based on a mouse's position relative to a rolling car, indicating representation of both objects.
- Infants demonstrated surprise when events violated their expectations about hidden objects.
Conclusions:
- Infants aged 3.5 months and older possess the cognitive ability to represent hidden objects.
- These findings support the early emergence of object permanence and reasoning about object interactions in infancy.
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