Object permanence in young infants: further evidence. 1991

R Baillargeon, and J DeVos
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign 61820.

Recent evidence suggests that 4.5- and even 3.5-month-old infants realize that objects continue to exist when hidden. The goal of the present experiments was to obtain converging evidence of object permanence in young infants. Experiments were conducted using paradigms previously used to demonstrate object permanence in 5.5-month-old infants and 6.5-month-old infants. In one experiment, 3.5-month-old infants watched a short or a tall carrot slide along a track. The track's center was hidden by a screen with a large window in its upper half. The short carrot was shorter than the window's lower edge and so did not appear in the window when passing behind the screen; the tall carrot was taller than the window's lower edge and hence should have appeared in the window but did not. The infants looked reliably longer at the tall than at the short carrot event, suggesting that they (a) represented the existence, height, and trajectory of each carrot behind the screen and (b) expected the tall carrot to appear in the screen window and were surprised that it did not. Control trials supported this interpretation. In another experiment, 4.0-month-old infants saw a toy car roll along a track that was partly hidden by a screen. A large toy mouse was placed behind the screen, either on top or in back of the track. The female infants looked reliably longer when the mouse stood on top as opposed to in back of the track, suggesting that they (a) represented the existence and trajectory of the car behind the screen, (b) represented the existence and location of the mouse behind the screen, and (c) were surprised to see the car reappear from behind the screen when the mouse stood in its path. A second experiment supported this interpretation. The results of these experiments provide further evidence that infants aged 3.5 months and older are able to represent and to reason about hidden objects.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D009039 Motion Perception The real or apparent movement of objects through the visual field. Movement Perception,Perception, Motion,Perception, Movement
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D010470 Perceptual Masking The interference of one perceptual stimulus with another causing a decrease or lessening in perceptual effectiveness. Masking, Perceptual,Maskings, Perceptual,Perceptual Maskings
D002666 Psychology, Child Branch of psychology involving the study of normal and abnormal behavior of children. Child Psychology,Infant Psychology,Pediatric Psychology,Psychology, Infant,Psychology, Pediatric
D003118 Color Perception Mental processing of chromatic signals (COLOR VISION) from the eye by the VISUAL CORTEX where they are converted into symbolic representations. Color perception involves numerous neurons, and is influenced not only by the distribution of wavelengths from the viewed object, but also by its background color and brightness contrast at its boundary. Color Perceptions,Perception, Color,Perceptions, Color
D003210 Concept Formation A cognitive process involving the formation of ideas generalized from the knowledge of qualities, aspects, and relations of objects. Concept Acquisition,Concept Learning,Conceptualization,Acquisition, Concept,Acquisitions, Concept,Concept Acquisitions,Formation, Concept,Learning, Concept
D004193 Discrimination Learning Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli. Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005556 Form Perception The sensory discrimination of a pattern, shape, or outline. Contour Perception,Contour Perceptions,Form Perceptions,Perception, Contour,Perception, Form,Perceptions, Contour,Perceptions, Form
D006185 Habituation, Psychophysiologic The disappearance of responsiveness to a repeated stimulation. It does not include drug habituation. Habituation (Psychophysiology),Habituation, Psychophysiological,Psychophysiologic Habituation,Psychophysiological Habituation,Habituations (Psychophysiology)

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