W7 EXAMINABLE CONTENT Flashcards
What are the key principles of the Core Object System? CCC
Cohesion: Objects are perceived as unified wholes, expected to maintain their shape and integrity.
Continuity: Objects in motion are expected to continue moving along their established trajectory.
Contact: Object movement is attributed to physical interaction; objects do not move spontaneously.
How do 4-month-old infants perceive unity in partly hidden objects?
Infants infer object unity by analyzing movement; if occluded elements move together, they perceive a single, unitary object. This is because they infer boundaries of partially hidden objects through its movement. (Kellman & Spelke, 1983)
How do 4-month-old infants use continuity to infer object number?
Infants use spatiotemporal continuity to infer a single object. In continuous movement, they expect one object (thus look longer at two object test); in discontinuous movement, they expect two (thus look longer at single object test). They look longer when expectations are violated. (Spelke et al., 1995)
Continuous Movement:
If an object moves smoothly behind a screen and reappears on the other side, infants expect it to be the same object.
If, after the screen is removed, they see two objects, this violates their expectation. They expected one, but saw two, so they look longer.
Discontinuous Movement:
If an object moves behind a screen, pauses, and then another object reappears, infants infer that there are two separate objects.
If, after the screen is removed, they see only one object, this violates their expectation. They expected two, but saw one, so they look longer.
How do 8-month-old infants understand contact and inertia?
They expect objects to move only when contacted, specifically inferring that a toy train caused a box’s motion, demonstrating an understanding that objects don’t move without external contact. (Muentener & Carey, 2010)
What are the limits of core object knowledge in infants?
At 10 months, infants struggle to track objects when they are hidden.
If one object disappears behind a screen and a second object is placed behind it, they do not expect two objects to be there.
This suggests that infants rely on basic tracking cues (like movement) rather than encoding detailed object features (like number or identity) during occlusion
How did Kaufman & Needham (2011) test spatial representation in infants?
They showed infants a pig-puppet in a fixed spot on the table. Then, they moved the pig to a new spot.
Infants were dishabituated (looked LONGER) when it moved in relation to the table, proving allocentric representation.
They can track objects based on the table’s position (a fixed environmental feature.)
What are the principles of the theory of core knowledge?
Evolution-endowed mammals switch systems of knowledge about the world.
Each system operates as a whole, distinct from other systems.
Each system is present throughout its lifetime.
Each system is limited.
Each system supports further learning
What key aspect of infant object understanding did Xu and Carey (1996) reveal?
Infants use movement continuity to determine if they’re seeing one or multiple objects, demonstrating an early understanding of object number.
What key ability did Stahl and Feigenson (2015) demonstrate in infants regarding object knowledge?
They showed infants track object identity through occlusion by detecting violations of object continuity, revealing infants’ capacity for maintaining object representation despite temporary visual disappearance.
