Lecture 7 – Object Permanence

Fundamental Categories of Knowledge…:

constructed as part of sensorimotor intelligence during the first 2 years of development

Object Permanence meaning

Understanding that objects are entities situated in the external environment that tyou can perceive and manipluate in different ways, but that exist independently of yourself, even when you cannot touch or see them

Piaget’s view of object permanence:

initially the infant’s world is a world without permanent ( understand that objects are only there if you can see them)

what stage does object permanence begin?

during the 6th sensorimotor stage

Stages in the development of the object concept: Stage 1 and 2

Separate and uncoordinated sensory experience = objects undifferentiated from own sensations and actions

Stages in the development of the object concept: Stage 3

Inability to retrieve hidden objects = objects only exist when perceived/seen

Stages in the development of the object concept: Stage 4

Hidden objects retrieves, but the existence of objects is linked to own action

Stages in the development of the object concept: Stage 5

Hidden objects always retrieved, but inability to understand invisible displacements = lack of symbolic representation and imagination

Stages in the development of the object concept: Stage 6

Invisible displacements understood = full concepts of objects as external, independent entities + symbolic representation

The development of Object Permanence according to Piaget? (As demonstrated by the ability to search for hidden objects)

Searching for an object that you can no longer see reveals: if you understand the object must still exist, if you understand patio-temporal constraints about where the object can possibly be

First step in object permanence

avoiding the disappearance of objects by visually tracking them – a primative form of object permanence

Lack of object permanence at stage 3 (6 months) explanation

Inability to retrieve objects if they are not in full view (do young babies assume that objects no longer exist when they cannot perceive them?) – inability to ‘keep objects in mind’

Transparent cups test compared to the blanket test on 6 month old stage 3 babies results

Able to notice an object under the transparent cup, but not under the blanket

blanket test on 7 month old stage 3 babies results

Can still not understand that an object is hidden under the blanket (out of sight=out of mind?)

Transparent cups test compared to the blanket test on 9 month old stage 4 babies results

Baby can easily work out the object is hidden under the cup and finds it straight away, could find the object under a blanket but when moved to under another blanket, struggled to find it

the blanket test on 11 month old stage 4 babies results

Find object under the blanket easily first time, but when moved to under a second blanket, struggles to find it

Piagets interpretation

Object’s existence and their locations in space are linked to infant’s own actions; objects belong to particular places and the act of searching for them makes them appear there – objects are not yet fully understood as substantive independent entities in space and time

Object permanence study with object disappearing from hand under cloth 12 months stage 5

object in experimenters hand, hand closed on object, hand moves under cloth, hand comes out of cloth without object, child inspects hand, no idea where the object is

Results of object permanence study with disappearing object from hand to under cloth (12 months, stage 5)

Baby has no idea where the object went, invisible displacement: object location changes while being invisibly held and moved

At what age is object permanence completed and invisible displacements are understood?

20 months, stage 6

Are object permanence universal in human development?

Yes! Studies in Non-Western cultures revealed that the stages of sensorimotor development are the same for all human infants

Study of sensorimotor intelligence in other animals (macaque monkeys) results

same stages as humans except they may stop at stage 5 as short of understanding invisible displacements (but this is a debated issue)

Invisible displacement in Apes (Chimps, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans) infants results

complete all object permanence stages just like human babies (around 22 months)

Differences in the development of object permanence across species

Humans and gorillas very similar but just takes longer for gorillas, rhesus monkey similar but stops at stage 5 (debatable), dogs stop at stage 5 and do it in 2 months

Heterochrony meaning

Different timing: A change in the age of onset and speed of development of one sensorimotor system in relation to another

Example of heterochrony

tool use in humans develop much earlier than in apes or monkeys

Convergent evolution

Similar adaptations may have evolved independently in different species (birds vs monkeys), very different brains an bodies may evolve similarly complex sensorimotor skills

Example of tool use as a natural behaviour in primates

Termite fishing by chimpanzees in Gombe: breaking 2 twigs to use them as tools to insert in termite mounds and extract the tasty termites, Nut cracking by chimpanzees in Taï Forest: using stones as hammers and anvils

primates meaning

most developed and intelligent group of mammals: humans, monkeys, apes

What other animals use tools for food

Birds, especially crows

One example of birds (Crows) making tools for food

using beak to bend wire to make a hook

Animal (monkeys and corvids (type of bird) string tests results

find it difficult to discern which string is the one connected to the food or give up – can’t always work out how to use tools

The Mentality of Crows: Covergent Evolution of Intelligence in Corvids and Apes:

Still questioning what the degree of cognitive complexity/understanding of tools they have, Birds brains and bodies may achieve similar degrees of complex practical intelligence as primates through different sensorimotor systems

Whats the conclusion/key points of Piaget and his Schools revolutionised understanding of cognitive development?

Provide a wealth of innovative tasks/emirical findings, provided a sophisticated theory of cognition and development, demonstrated how to investigate early infant development