PSYC2061 Developmental Psychology

Dr Rachel Stephens
r.stephens@unsw.edu.au

Cognitive Development: Emotional Development:

Children’s Thinking Attachment and Temperament
 Cognitive Development:
The emergence of the ability to
think and understand
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
IN INFANCY (0-2 years)
Outline:
• When do infants acquire “object permanence”?
• Classic Hide & Search Tasks
• Re-thinking these tasks
• Alternative ways to assess object permanence
 Major Cognitive Achievement in
Infancy: Object Permanence
Understanding that objects continue to exist
even when they can’t be perceived directly
(Representational Ability)
Major Cognitive Achievement:
Object Permanence
Major implications for interacting with
the physical and social world
 Development of Object Permanence
(OP): Early (Piagetian) Approaches
• OP is major development of
Sensori-Motor period (0-2 years)
• Development is gradual from 0-
18 months and passes through
sub-stages
• Development driven by direct
experience with the environment
Classic methods for Studying Object
Permanence: Hide and Search Tasks
Stages of Object Permanence
Stages 1-2
(1-4
months)

Stage 3
(4-8
months)

Stage 4
(8-12
months)
Classic methods for Studying Object
Permanence: Hide and Search Tasks

Up to 8-12 months: A-Not-B error

The A not B task Stage 4 Place Error

1 A trials
The A not B task

1 A trials
The A not B task

1 A trials
The A not B task

B trials
The A not B task

??

B trials
Classic methods for Studying Object
Permanence: Hide and Search Tasks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjB
h9ld_yIo
 Why do 8-12 month olds make the
A-Not-B error (Stage 4 Place error)?
Classic Answer: Incomplete
development of object permanence
• At 12 months infant object concept =
Object X in Position X

Is this correct??
 Rethinking the Development of
Object Permanence: Task Analysis
What are the sub-steps required to
successfully complete the A-Not-B task?
The Competence-Performance
Distinction
 Alternative interpretations #1:
A-Not-B success involves development of
spatial (location) memory
• Bjork and Cummings (1984):
Testing A-Not-B Place error with multiple
hiding locations in 7-month-olds
 The A-not-B Error
Bjork & Cummings (1984)
A trials:

B trials:

X
 The A-not-B Error
Bjork & Cummings (1984)
The Competence-Performance Distinction
• Additional performance
components in A-Not-B task
(object memory, spatial
memory, coordinating
reaching, etc.) make it difficult
to study development of Object
Permanence

• Can we measure OP without

these barriers?
 Alternative method:
Habituation-Dishabituation
e.g., Perceptual task:
Can infant discriminate face vs. scrambled face?
 Habituation-Dishabituation
100
Fixation Time (secs)

80

60

40

20

0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Test
Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial

Fixation time
 Habituation-Dishabituation
100
Fixation Time (secs)

80

60

40

20

0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Test
Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial

Fixation time
 Alternative interpretations #2:
A-Not-B success involves co-ordination of
manual & cognitive systems
Habituation Studies: Examining A-Not-B
Place error WITHOUT manual search
Pioneer: Renee Baillargeon
Do objects continue
to exist when
removed from view?
(Baillargeon et al.,
1985)

Moving
Screen Task

 5 month olds
discriminated
between Possible
and Impossible
events
Do objects continue to exist
when removed from view?

Train and Track Studies

Baillargeon et al. (1986)
Habituation Display
Test 1: Possible Event
Test 2: Impossible Event
Do objects continue to exist
when removed from view?

Train and Track Studies

Baillargeon et al. (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h
wgo2O5Vk_g&t=53s
Similar Tasks and Results from
the Baillargeon lab

Disappearing object:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l
1VK2iawS34
 Summary
• Object permanence (OP) is an important cognitive
ability that is central to infants’ adaptation and
survival
• The “classic” manual search task may not be the best
way to examine OP because it includes many
additional performance components
 short-term memory, spatial memory,
coordinating reaching with knowledge
• When these performance components are minimized
(e.g., in Baillargeon’s habituation studies) children
as young as 4-6 months appear to have a
rudimentary grasp of OP