Object and event representation in 6 1/2-month-old infants

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted in which infants had to use remembered knowledge of auditory-visual events to guide their reaching and grasping. The events involved a ball falling noisily through a tube and coming to rest at 1 of 2 locations, with either resting site specified by distinctive auditory information. The events were presented initially in the light and then in the dark to determine whether infants would remember and use the auditory cues when they could no longer see where the ball fell. In both experiments, infants' reaching behavior was initiated and carried out after the sound ended, which ensured that search for the ball took place without support from ongoing visual or auditory cues. Accurate searching for the ball depended on infants' experience in the light. The authors conclude that 6 1/2-month-olds can represent unseen objects and events and use this knowledge to guide their actions to achieve a goal. The success in this task was contrasted with the failures of infants this age in the Piagetian hidden object task.