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Understanding the effects of one's actions upon hidden objects and the development of search behaviour in 7-month-old

Richard J O'Connor1, James Russell1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.

Developmental Science
|December 9, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Seven-month-old infants who learned their actions could reveal hidden toys showed improved object search skills. This suggests early understanding of agency aids infant search behavior development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Development
  • Infant Behavior

Background:

  • Infant object search behavior is critical for cognitive development.
  • Understanding how actions influence object visibility may underpin search skills.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if infants' understanding of agency (their actions' effects) impacts object search development.
  • To determine if learning to act upon hidden objects enhances search performance.

Main Methods:

  • A two-day study with 7-month-old infants.
  • Infants performed a hiding-well search task before and after training.
  • Training involved either learning to spin a turntable to reveal a toy (Agency group) or performing a similar action with a visible toy (Means-End group).

Main Results:

  • The Agency group demonstrated significantly greater improvement in the hiding-well search task compared to the Means-End group.
  • This improvement suggests that experiencing one's actions making hidden objects visible enhances search abilities.
  • Learning transferred across different motor actions and stimuli, indicating generalized understanding.

Conclusions:

  • Infants' early understanding of agency, specifically how their actions affect object visibility, is crucial for developing search behavior.
  • Experiential learning of cause-and-effect in object manipulation facilitates cognitive development in infants.
  • This study highlights generalized transfer of learning in 7-month-old infants, supporting early causal reasoning development.

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