Lecture 2 - Object Concept and Mental Representations

Question 1

Object permanence definition

Answer 1

Objects:
Continue to exist when out of sight
Retains spatial and physical properties
Subject to physical laws

Question 2

Sensorimotor Stage (Piaget, 1936)

Answer 2

1. 0-24 months
2. Learns about world through actions and sensory information
3. Learns to differentiate self from the environment
4. Start to understand causality, and form internal mental representations
5. Object permanence attained at 12 months, full internal representations by 18-24 months

Question 3

Substages of sensorimotor stage

Answer 3

Reflex, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, internal representation

Question 4

Reflex activity substage

Answer 4

Practice innate reflexes for example sucking and looking

Question 5

Primary circular reactions substage

Answer 5

Simple behaviours derived from basic reflexes, start repeating behaviour, focuses on body, no differentiation between self and outside world

Question 6

Secondary circular reactions substage

Answer 6

Starts to focus on objects, begin to change surroundings intentionally and establish connection between body movement

Question 7

Coordination of secondary circular reactions substage

Answer 7

Engage with objects using a variety of actions, combining actions to achieve goals – still makes A-not-B errors

Question 8

Tertiary circular reactions substage

Answer 8

Still repetitive or circle behaviours and discover the properties of objects and the environment, understand objects through trial and error, improvements in problem solving and still lack internal representations

Question 9

Internal representation substage

Answer 9

Baby now has a mental representation of the world to solve problems insightfully

Question 10

A-not-B error

Answer 10

A child may reach for a hidden object where it has always been, yet still reach there even when they see the toy hidden somewhere else

Question 11

Object permanence ages

Answer 11

Babies begin to search for objects around 6-9 months but still have A-not-B error until 12 months

Question 12

What happens at substage 6? (internal representation)

Answer 12

Copy behaviour after a delay and shows goal directed and structured planning behaviour

Question 13

Piaget Method critique

Answer 13

Observational methods, often with own children
Quantitative but experimental data rare
“Clinical method” rather than standardised

Question 14

Confounds to Piaget’s substages

Answer 14

Motor coordination and motor planning deficits (inability to perform coordinated actions)
Memory deficits
Communication – biased by cues

Question 15

Younger infants could show more evidence if…

Answer 15

Simplify procedure in experimental studies
Change procedure
Change the dependent variable

Question 16

Smith and Thalan (2003)

Answer 16

When children were stood upright before the A-not-B part of the task, they solved it at 10 months old

Question 17

Butterworth (1977) Conditions

Answer 17

3 conditions: normal A-not-B, covered but visible object, visible and uncovered object

Question 18

Butterworth (1977) Findings

Answer 18

Errors in all 3 conditions even when object is uncovered but visible (reflects lack of communication, not necessarily lack of object permanence)

Question 19

Bower and Wishart, 1972

Answer 19

Shown object within reach, lights turned off infants as young as five months will grasp for out of sight objects

Question 20

Bower (1982)

Answer 20

Infants a few months old, shown object, screen moved in front of object, then returned to original position.

Heart rate increased when object disappeared illogically

Question 21

Baillargeon et al (1985)

Answer 21

Babies showed more surprise at the impossible event. They only showed surprise at the normal event if the impossible was shown first due to violation of expectation

Question 22

Baillargeon et al (1985) Conclusions

Answer 22

Infants as young as 5 months showed object permanence

Question 23

Clifton et al (1991)

Answer 23

Presented 6m olds with small (required 1 hand grasp) and large (2 hand grasp) objects
Each object made identifying sound
Infants made appropriate grip to reach for objects in darkness
Authors conclude this is based on mental representations

Question 24

Martenjuk et al, 1987

Answer 24

Differences in motor patterns in adults for planned actions

Question 25

Willatts (1989)

Answer 25

• Toy out of reach on a cloth
• Cloth and toy blocked by barrier
• 9 month old children performed sequence of actions to get toy
• Many succeeded on the first event (novel, planned actions, mental representation of the world used to organise behaviour

Question 26

Meltzoff and Moore (1994) - 6 week olds

Answer 26

Some infants saw adult make facial gesture, some saw neutral expression.
Day later, those who saw gesture were more likely to perform it to a neutral face

Question 27

Meltzoff (1995) - 14 month to 16 month year olds

Answer 27

Experimenter performed series of actions with objects.

Both ages more likely to reproduce observed actions than those who did not see them (even after a four month delay)