Lecture Notes: Object Permanence in Infants

Introduction

• Research at the University of Illinois on newborns' and young children's abilities.
• Professor Renee Baillargeon is studying the development of object permanence.

Object Permanence

• Definition: A set of beliefs about objects, primarily that they continue to exist when not visible.
• Historical Context:
  • First studied by Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist.
  • Piaget's Claims:
    • Infants understand object permanence around 8-9 months.
    • Around 12 months, infants understand objects retain physical and spatial properties when hidden.

New Research Findings

• Experiments by Renee Baillargeon’s Team:
  • Designed tasks for infants to observe possible and impossible events.
  • Notable experiment setup:
    • A six-month-old sees a cart rolling down tracks, going behind a screen, and emerging on the other side.
    • A block is placed on the tracks, yet the cart appears to roll uninterrupted, creating an impossible event.
  • Infants stare longer at impossible events indicating surprise or puzzlement.

Key Observations

• Infants' Responses:
  • Longer gaze at impossible events suggests recognition of inconsistency.
  • Indicates an understanding of object permanence as young as 3.5 months old.

Conclusion

• This research challenges previous assumptions on infant's physical knowledge.
• Infants possess more sophisticated understanding of object permanence than previously thought.
• Implications on how early cognitive development is perceived and studied.