Reaching in the dark to an object's remembered position: Evidence for object permanence in 5‐month‐old infants
British Journal of Developmental PsychologyPublished 1 March 1986
Bruce Hood, Peter Willatts
Citations137
SJR quartileQ2
SJR score0.97
SNIP1.36
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
Five‐month‐old infants were restrained from reaching for an object that was presented to the side within reaching distance. The room lights were switched off, the object was removed and the infant's hands were released. Significantly more reaches were directed towards the object's previously seen location than to a corresponding control location where no object had been presented. This finding supports the claim of Bower & Wishart that young infants show a form of object permanence, and challenges the Piagetian view that young infants are unable to represent objects that are no longer perceptually available.
Keywords
PsychologyNeuroscience
Child DevelopmentObservations on the Development of Visually-Directed Reaching
332 Citations1964Burton L. White, Peter Castle +1 more
A normative study of the development of visually-directed prehension during the first six months of life of normal infants born and reared under relatively uniform conditions in a state hospital found a number of separate and distinct visualmotor and tactual motor behaviors were found to contribute to this sequence.
CognitionThe effects of motor skill on object permanence
93 Citations1972T. G. R. Bower, Jennifer G. Wishart
Child DevelopmentSTAGE IV OF PIAGET'S THEORY OF INFANT'S OBJECT CONCEPTS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
75 Citations1971Gerald Gratch, William F. Landers
13 6-month-old infants were observed biweekly until they were about 12 months of age to replicate and elaborate the observations which Piaget employs to define State IV in the development of object concepts.
Journal of Experimental Child PsychologyA methodological investigation of Piaget's theory of object concept development in the sensory-motor period
60 Citations1970Dolores J. Miller, Leslie B. Cohen +1 more
The trend of the data suggested, contrary to previous evidence, that the infant can cope with single invisible displacements not involving movement before he can handle complex visible displacements that do involve movement.
Developmental PsychologyStages in the development of intentional search by young infants.
50 Citations1984Peter Willatts
PerceptionReaching in the Dark
48 Citations1978Jennifer G. Wishart, T. G. R. Bower +1 more
Reaching for noise-making objects presented in darkness declines, then recovers, during infancy, and the most probable explanation of this U-shaped function would seem to involve changes in reaching, change in the perception of success, and changes in the body schema.
Child DevelopmentTactile Recognition Memory in Infants
23 Citations1980Allen W. Gottfried, Susan A. Rose
In both the lighted and darkness tests infants engaged in significantly more manipulation, exhibited more mouthing, and displayed more hand-to-hand transfers with novel compared to familiar objects, providing initial evidence that infants are capable of tactile recognition memory.
Child DevelopmentA STUDY OF THE RELATIVE DOMINANCE OF VISION AND TOUCH IN SIX-MONTH-OLD INFANTS
19 Citations1972Gerald Gratch
The difficulty level of the task of removing the opaque cover was found to be greater than Piaget's partial-hiding task and less than his hidingwhile-reaching and hiding-before-reaching tasks.
Child DevelopmentPerformance on a Stage IV Object-Permanence Task with Standard and Nonstandard Covers
15 Citations1979Nancy Rader, Dennis J. Spiro +1 more
Child DevelopmentInfants' Tactual Discrimination of Novel and Familiar Tactual Stimuli
15 Citations1979Sherri MacKay Soroka, Carl Corter +1 more
Infants are capable of tactually discriminating novel and familiar shapes in the absence of vision and demonstrate a preference for novelty within the tactual modality.
Development of the object concept in infancy
8 Citations1979Jennifer G. Wishart
Child DevelopmentAdjustment of Reaching to Change in Object Position by Young Infants
8 Citations1979Peter Willatts
4-month-old infants manipulated and fixated an object less when it was presented in a new rather than a familiar place and there were no signs of persistence of manipulation and fixation at the object's original place at 5 months.