Is Piaget's search task a valid test of object permanence?

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Is Piagets search task a valid test of object permanence? You are learning about... You are learning to... Piagets sensorimotor stage Studies of object permanence by Bower and Baillargeon

Describe and criticise ways of investigating infant cognition psychlotron.org.uk Todays session Failure to search could imply lack of object permanence or: Loss of interest Limited working memory

Inability to coordinate search movements psychlotron.org.uk Search tasks A child might have object permanence (competence) but still not be able to search (performance) psychlotron.org.uk Competence vs. performance

Competence = underlying ability to do something Performance = whether someone actually does it Piagets search task conflates (mixes up) competence and performance, leading him to underestimate infants abilities. riticism c t n e

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Many researchers have adopted the childs looking as a measure of object permanence psychlotron.org.uk Can you think of a more valid way of testing for object permanence? 5 month-old infants visual tracking was recorded as they watched a moving object disappear behind a screen.

psychlotron.org.uk Bower et al (1971) What would Piaget predict to happen once the object has disappeared behind the screen? psychlotron.org.uk Bower et al (1971) 4 month-old infants shown a toy. Lights were turned off so the room was in

complete darkness. Infants were observed with an infra-red camera. What would Piaget predict about the childs behaviour once the room was darkened? psychlotron.org.uk Bower & Wishart (1972) psychlotron.org.uk Why might we argue that Bowers tests of object permanence are more valid than

Piagets? Used the habituation paradigm: Infants will spend more time looking at new things. They are shown a stimulus until they look away (habituation) They are then shown other stimuli based on the first. Differences in looking time show that the infant can tell the difference between the stimuli

psychlotron.org.uk Baillargeon (1985; 1987) 4 month-old infants habituated and then shown possible and impossible events psychlotron.org.uk Baillargeon (1985; 1987) 4 month-old infants habituated and then shown

possible and impossible events psychlotron.org.uk Baillargeon (1985; 1987) Baillargeon found that infants would look for longer at impossible events. What conclusions can be drawn from this finding? What do Bowers and Baillargeons results imply about Piagets view of object permanence?

psychlotron.org.uk Baillargeon (1985; 1987) Read the article about Baillargeons studies and answer the accompanying questions. psychlotron.org.uk Homework