Task 6 Flashcards
What is object permanence?
The notion that an object continues to exist and move in time and space while retaining their physical properties despite being occluded (continuity principle).
When does object permanence develop according to Piaget?
Piaget: partially present at stage 3 of sensorimotor development (4-8 months), and fully developed by the end of the sensorimotor stage (18-24 months)
When does object permanence develop according to Baillargeon?
Baillargeon: it is present as early as 3.5 months (in carrot exp). 4-5 months can hold in mind object seen for 3-4mins & can also make inference about object permanence of object based on their size properties (cylinder task).
Kauffman conducted an object permanence task by making a train appear or disappear and recorded infants’ looking time and gamma band activity.
What were the findings in relation to object permanence and how old were these infants?
Age: 6 month old
- 6 month old infants looked longer when the train unexpectedly disappeared; expectancy violation; object permanence concept
- There were higher gamma band activity in unexpected disappearance before and after lifting of tunnel
What does gamma band indicate?
Mental representations
Kauffman found an increased activity of gamma band in one brain area when the train was hidden underneath the tunnel.
What is the name of the structure and what are its functions?
Right temporal Channel.
The right temporal lobe is associated with learning and remembering non-verbal information.
Moreover, the inferior temporal lobe is part of the ventral stream that is associated with visual recognition.
Piaget assert that development of object permanence starts in the third stage of sensorimotor development. What happens during this stage (secondary circular reactions)?
Infants:
- Make visual accomodation to rapid movements
- interrupt prehension
- Defer circular reactions during interuption
- Reconstruct invisible whole from visible fraction
- Remove obstacles preventing perception
How does Baillargeon explain the development of object permanence?
When objects are occluded infants for expectations about their outcome (i.e. disappear or continue to exist). These expectations are dependent on their knowledge of the spatial relationships between objects (event categories) e.g. behind (occluded), inside (containment), or under cover (covering). They are now faced with an issue of whether these objects continue to exist. To help them solve this dilema, infants use variables (e.g. height and width). Infants who have not developed these variables will commit two types of errors: commission or omission errors. That is they will either become surprised when non-violated events occur and not surprised when violation events occur.
Baillargeon conducted an experiment where infants either viewed a thin or thick box being occluded and then a cylinder passing in between the box and the occluder. The infants had 5 familiarization trials of viewing the thick or thin box. They were then familiarized with the screen being raised. Before the next phase, a 3 or 4 min delay was inserted where the box was removed and replaced with its opposite box. After that there was a familiarization phase a cylinder appeared. In the test phases the cylinder would pass between the occluder and box. Infants’ looking times were measured.
How old were the infants? and what did Baillageon find and conclude about object permanence?
Age: 4-5 months
Findings:
* Are able to remember the object when hidden (thick/thin box)
* Know that an object big object cannot pass through a small space (e.g. cylinder cannot pass when there is a thick box compared to thin box).
* They look longer when this is violated (i.e. when cylinder passes in thick box condition).
conclusion:
Infants as young as 4-5 months have object permanence
What is basic continuity violation?
It is violations that only involve the use of basic information (e.g. number of objects present) included in their physical representation of events
What is variable continuity violation?
Continuity violations that involve knowledge of variables
How do infants’ continuity principle operate?
When they watch an event they build physical representations of it by either using only basic information present, or both basic info and variable information. If the latter is involved then they categorize the event and use the variable info to predict outcomes. If variable info is not available then they only form predictions about the outcome of events based on the basic information available.
