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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Something old, something new: a developmental transition from familiarity to novelty preferences with hidden objects
Jeanne L Shinskey1, Yuko Munakata
1Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. jeanne.shinskey@rhul.ac.uk
Developmental Science
|February 9, 2010
Summary
Eleven-month-olds, unlike younger infants, prefer novel objects over familiar ones, even when hidden. This developmental shift in object representation supports adaptive cognitive development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Infant Cognition
Background:
- Novelty seeking is adaptive and linked to cognitive performance.
- Seven-month-olds prefer familiar objects when searching for hidden items, but novel objects when visible.
- Graded representations theory suggests object knowledge strengthens with experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if object representations strengthen by 11 months, leading to novelty preferences with hidden objects.
- To investigate developmental changes in infant object representation and search behavior.
- To compare novelty preferences for visible versus hidden objects in 11-month-olds.
Main Methods:
- Presented 24 11-month-old infants with novel and familiar objects.
- Objects were sometimes visible and sometimes hidden during the study.
- Recorded infant search behavior and preferences for familiar versus novel stimuli.
Main Results:
- Eleven-month-olds demonstrated novelty preferences for both visible and hidden objects.
- This contrasts with the familiarity preference observed in 7-month-olds for hidden objects.
- The developmental shift in hidden object preference mirrors that for visible objects.
Conclusions:
- Object representations mature by 11 months, enabling novelty preference even for hidden items.
- This developmental transition highlights both continuity and change in adaptive cognitive processes.
- The findings contribute to understanding the development of object permanence and cognitive flexibility.
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