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Out of Reach, Out of Mind? Infants’ Comprehension of References to Hidden Inaccessible Objects
Author(s) -
Osina Maria A.,
Saylor Megan M.,
Ganea Patricia A.
Publication year - 2016
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/cdev.12656
Subject(s) - object permanence , referent , psychology , object (grammar) , comprehension , container (type theory) , cognitive psychology , theory of mind , communication , developmental psychology , cognitive development , cognition , artificial intelligence , computer science , linguistics , mechanical engineering , philosophy , neuroscience , engineering , programming language
This study investigated the nature of infants’ difficulty understanding references to hidden inaccessible objects. Twelve‐month‐old infants ( N = 32) responded to the mention of objects by looking at, pointing at, or approaching them when the referents were visible or accessible, but not when they were hidden and inaccessible (Experiment I). Twelve‐month‐olds ( N = 16) responded robustly when a container with the hidden referent was moved from a previously inaccessible position to an accessible position before the request, but failed to respond when the reverse occurred (Experiment II). This suggests that infants might be able to track the hidden object's dislocations and update its accessibility as it changes. Knowing the hidden object is currently inaccessible inhibits their responding. Older, 16‐month‐old ( N = 17) infants’ performance was not affected by object accessibility.