OBJECT PERMANENCE IN YOUNG INFANTS

调查人员传统上声称，婴儿不会开始查看 直到9或10个月大的物品都是永久性的。然而，初步的 研究表明，小到5个月大的婴儿就能认识到 对象在被遮挡时仍将继续存在。这篇文章中描述的研究 该提案是以这些初步研究的结果为基础的。三总 问题将得到解决。第一个问题是婴儿的表象能力 对象的物理和空间属性，并使用这些信息 对简单的遮挡事件进行推理。两种类型的遮挡事件 将会被调查。在其中一种情况下，一个静止的物体将被放置在 移动屏幕的路径。拟议中的实验将测试 婴儿代表有关物体高度和位置的信息 并使用此信息来预测屏幕何时应该停止。在 第二种类型的遮挡序列，对象将沿着轨道行进， 其中的一部分将被屏幕遮挡。拟议中的实验将 测试婴儿是否代表有关物体高度的信息 并使用该信息来确定该对象的一部分 应保持在屏幕上方可见。 第二个问题与第一个问题密切相关。这关系到婴儿的健康 能够对被遮挡对象的属性进行推断。一 实验将检验婴儿是否能推断物体的距离 根据屏幕的移动速度和持续时间在屏幕后面移动 它的遮挡。其他实验将测试婴儿是否能推断出 根据特定类型的提示隐藏对象。例如，如果 展示了一个平盖和一个带有明显肿块的盖子，婴儿会意识到 那东西一定藏在凹凸不平的盖子下面？ 第三个问题涉及婴儿推理能力的发展。 被遮挡的对象。婴儿在多大年龄时才能理解静止的 对象在被遮挡时继续存在，或者移动的对象继续存在 在封堵器后面生存并追寻它的轨迹？你在几岁的时候 婴儿变得能够表示和使用关于身体和 被遮挡对象的空间特性？最后，婴儿什么时候会变成 能够对物理特征和空间属性进行推断 被遮挡的物体？ 到目前为止，这项提案中描述的研究涉及到两个 婴儿期研究的脱节领域：婴幼儿客体概念和婴幼儿客体概念 对物质世界的了解。

Investigators have traditionally claimed that infants do not begin to view objects as permanent until 9 or 10 months of age. However, preliminary studies indicate that infants as young as 5 months of age recognize that objects continue to exist when occluded. The research described in this proposal builds on the results of these initial studies. Three general issues will be addressed. The first concerns infants' ability to represent the physical and spatial properties of objects and to use this information to reason about simple occlusion events. Two types of occlusion events will be investigated. In one, a stationary object will be placed in the path of a moving screen. The proposed experiments will test whether infants represent information about the height and location of the object and use this information to predict when the screen should stop. In the second type of occlusion sequence, an object will travel along a track, part of which will be occluded by a screen. The proposed experiments will test whether infants represent information about the height of the object and use this information to determine whether a portion of the object should remain visible above the screen. The second issue is closely related to the first. It concerns infants' ability to make inferences about properties of occluded objects. One experiment will examine whether infants can infer the distance an object travels behind a screen, based on its speed of movement and the duration of its occlusion. Other experiments will test whether infants can infer where an object is hidden, based on specific types of cues. For instance, if shown a flat cover and a cover with a distinct lump, will infants realize that the object must be hidden under the lumpy cover? The third issue concerns the development of infants' reasoning about occluded objects. At what age do infants understand that a stationary object continues to exist when occluded, or that a moving object continues to exist and pursues its trajectory behind an occluder? At what age do infants become able to represent and use information about the physical and spatial properties of occluded objects? Finally, when do infants become able to make inferences about the physical features and spatial properties of occluded objects? The research described in this proposal has implications for two, hitherto disjoint areas of infancy research: infants' object concept, and infants' knowledge of the physical world.