W7 - Objects Flashcards
What is an object?
An object is a physical entity that can be accessed and held.
How do objects behave according to physical knowledge?
Objects follow specific physical rules, such as continuity, solidity, and gravity.
What is the Violation-of-Expectation Looking-Time Task based on?
The idea that infants look longer at events that violate their expectations.
What are the steps in a Violation-of-Expectation Task?
Habituation/Familiarisation – Infant looks at a scenario until they become bored. Test trials – Minimum of two trials: Expected trial – Shows a possible or congruent scenario. Unexpected trial – Shows an impossible or incongruent scenario.
Which study investigated infants’ understanding of object unity?
Kellman & Spelke (1983) – Infants aged 4 months.
What did the study by Kellman & Spelke (1983) show about object unity?
Infants infer the presence of a single object if occluded elements move together.
How do infants respond when objects behind an occluder move separately?
They do not form an inference about the number of objects.
At what age do infants show early signs of understanding object unity?
From 4 months.
Which study investigated object continuity?
Spelke et al. (1995) – Infants aged 4 months.
What is the principle of spatiotemporal continuity?
Objects are expected to exist in one location at a time and move continuously through space.
How do infants respond when exposed to continuous movement of an object?
They expect to see one object.
How do infants respond when exposed to discontinuous movement?
They expect two objects and look longer when this expectation is violated.
Which study investigated infants’ understanding of object solidity?
Baillargeon (1986) – Infants aged 6–8 months.
What is the key finding from Baillargeon’s solidity study?
Infants were surprised when a toy train passed through a wall, showing they understood that objects are solid and cannot pass through each other.
Which other researchers confirmed findings about object solidity?
Stahl & Feigenson (2015).
Which study investigated contact and inertia and on who?
Muentener & Carey (2010) – Infants aged 8 months.
What is the principle of contact?
Objects need to touch to influence each other’s movement.
What is the principle of inertia?
Objects do not move on their own.
What did infants in Muentener & Carey’s study expect when the toy train moved the box?
That the train was the source of the box’s movement.
Which study investigated infants’ understanding of gravity and support, what age?
Needham & Baillargeon (1993) – Infants aged 4 months.
How did infants respond when objects floated in the air?
They were surprised, indicating an early understanding that unsupported objects should fall.
What is the hypothesis about intuitive physics?
Core knowledge of objects is innate and present early in life.
What evidence supports the idea that object knowledge is innate?
Evidence from newborn animals, like chicks, which haven’t had time to learn through experience.
Why is it hard to test object knowledge directly in human newborns?
Because newborns have poor vision and short awake spans.
What evidence from newborn animals supports the idea of innate object knowledge?
Lorenz – Imprinting research on chicks. And Chiandetti & Vallortigara (2011) – Chicks preferred objects they were familiar with after a learning phase.
What are the three domains of core knowledge proposed by Spelke & Carey?
- Objects, 2. Places 3. Approximate numbers
What are the characteristics of core knowledge systems?
- Operates as a whole, distinct from other systems. 2. Present throughout life. 3. Limited but supports further learning.
How does core object knowledge help infants sugg by?
Make sense of observed events. Make inferences about hidden objects. Guide learning and exploration. Stahl & Feigenson (2015)
Which study investigated the limits of core object knowledge?
Xu & Carey (2004) – Infants aged 10 months.
What limitation in object tracking did Xu & Carey (2004) identify?
Infants fail to encode object features during occlusion and rely on limited information to track objects.
What scenario demonstrates this limitation?
When two objects are hidden behind a screen, infants expect to see one object.
