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Early Representational Insight: Twenty‐Four‐Month‐Olds Can Use a Photo to Find an Object in the World
Author(s) -
Suddendorf Thomas
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00574
Subject(s) - perseveration , psychology , object (grammar) , developmental psychology , presentation (obstetrics) , cognitive psychology , cognition , artificial intelligence , computer science , medicine , neuroscience , radiology
The research reported here shows that under certain circumstances even 24‐month‐old children can display representational insight. Seventy‐nine children participated in 3 studies in which a photo or video presentation could be used to guide their search for a hidden object. Studies 1 and 2 replicated earlier findings of chance performance levels across 4 trials. However, on their first trial, 24‐month‐olds performed above chance in 3 of 4 conditions in these experiments. Study 3 therefore presented children not with the typical 4 trials in 1 room, but with 1 trial each in 4 different rooms. This manipulation ruled out perseveration errors and resulted in above‐chance performance in average mean retrieval rates. These results call for first‐trial reanalyses of earlier studies.