Infants’ Knowledge of Object Continuity and Discontinuity
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Publication Title
Child Development
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12005
ISSN
1467-8624
Abstract
Sixty infants divided evenly between 5 and 7 months of age were tested for their knowledge of object continuity versus discontinuity with a predictive tracking task. The stimulus event consisted of a moving ball that was briefly occluded for 20 trials. Both age groups predictively tracked the ball when it disappeared and reappeared via occlusion, but not when it disappeared and reappeared via implosion. Infants displayed high levels of predictive tracking from the first trial in the occlusion condition, and showed significant improvement across trials in the implosion condition. These results suggest that infants possess embodied knowledge to support differential tracking of continuously and discontinuously moving objects, but this tracking can be modified by visual experience.
Recommended Citation
Bertenthal, Bennett I., Gustaf Gredebäck, Ty W. Boyer.
2013.
"Infants’ Knowledge of Object Continuity and Discontinuity."
Child Development, 84 (2): 413-421: Wiley.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12005 source: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12005
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/psych-facpubs/64
