Cognitive Development

Question 1

What do infants know about objects?

Answer 1

Sensory input is continuously changing, moment to moment, but we act as if this input is generated by stable objects (not operating over raw perceptual properties).

Over mind is filling in the information to determine what we are seeing (poverty of the stimulus)

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

It is an inverse problem- identifying the cause of observations

Ex. Seeing a ball in a fist and and can tell it is a ball even though technically we don’t see the whole ball

Question 3

What are the principles of object behavior?

Answer 3

Objects are unitary
Objects don’t disappear when hidden - object permanence
Objects show spatiotemporal continuity
Objects are solid
Objects do not change properties (consistent properties)

Question 4

Do newborns perceive objects as unitary? (Study)

Answer 4

Yes

If you show infants a display where you are hiding a rod behind it, but you can still see the outline of the rod.
When you remove the display, and the baby sees the whole rod, the baby is bored because they already assume that it is one rod.

But if you remove the display and the baby sees only a part of a rod that is not connected, they are surprised. Since they expect the object to be a unit.

Question 5

What is object permanence?

Answer 5

Knowing when you put something behind in that you can’t see anymore doesn’t mean it has disappeared.

Objects don’t disappear when hidden

Question 6

Do infants have object permanence?

Answer 6

Yes by 3 months, infants reason about hidden objects

Question 7

Object permanence Study

Answer 7

Procedures:
Wide-occluder event vs narrow-occluder event

In the wide occluder event, you have a wide occluder that you drop a block behind that is smaller than the occluder, which would make sense why it disappears. So, when it disappears, it doesn’t surprise the infant.

In the narrow occluder event, you have a skinnier (narrower) occluder with a bigger block. So, you drop the block behind the occluder and expect to be able to see the block. But when the infants are unable to see the block, they are surprised.

Thus showing, that infants do have object permanence

Question 8

Do infants attribute spatiotemporal continuity to objects?

Answer 8

Yes

Question 9

What is spatiotemporal continuity?

Answer 9

Knowing objects persist in space and time; same motion
No teleportation
Make assumptions about hidden object’s path

Question 10

First study on spatiotemporal continuity

Answer 10

Procedures:
Have a ball that is going to pass a occluder and reappear on the other side.

Then have the ball roll without an occluder, but acts as if there is an occluder, so it seems to disappear and appear. This action surprises infants.

The other condition had the ball roll normally, in which it doesn’t disappear, so the baby is bored since it expects that to happen.

Question 11

Second study on spatiotemporal continuity

Answer 11

Procedures:
Have a ball that is going to pass a occluder and reappear on the other side. People assume the path the ball took to get to the other side.

So when you cut the top middle portion of the occluder and the ball passes straight in the bottom path, the infants are not surprised (bored) since that is what they expected.

But in the other condition, when you cut the bottom middle portion of the occulder and the ball passes through a different path that leaves them in the same position as before, it surprises the infant. Since they expect the ball to follow a straight path, but it doesn’t.

Question 12

Do infants attribute solidity to objects?

Answer 12

Yes

Question 13

Solidity Study

Answer 13

Procedures:
Show a vehicle, go straight, and then place a box in front with an occluder blocking the view of the box, but they know it is there.

So you have one condition: do what you expect to happen. The car is stopped by the box, so when you drop the occluder, the car is in front of the box. Thus, infants are bored since what they expect to happen occurs.

In the other condition, you have the car roll and place the car after the box, making it appear that it went through the box. This leads to the infants being surprised since they know objects aren’t supposed to be able to go through other objects.

Question 14

Do infants recognize an object changing (object categories)?

Answer 14

Yes but at different ages

Infants detect shape changes by 5 months
Children can detect pattern changes by 7.5 months
Children can detect color changes by 11.5 months.

Infants a 12 months don’t seem to individuate objects based on texture/color. They use shape to individuate objects.

Question 15

Why do infants detect some feature changes but not others?

Answer 15

Because of the features relevance to the objects category and shape is important so it is done early (5 months)

Question 16

Study to Make 7.5 month olds detect color change

Answer 16

Procedure:
Teach them that color is an important cue for object category by having the same object, but the color difference is correlated to its function. The grey version is only used for pounding, while the black version is only used for pouring.

So you train them to pay attention to color, so now they can detect color change early.

Question 17

What is the link between object categories and language (labels)?

Answer 17

10-month-olds fail to individuate objects from different categories
But distinct labels help infants individuate objects

Question 18

What are the principles of goal-motivated behavior?

Answer 18

The end result is consistent/repeated
Actor looks like an agent
Action is efficient
The agent desires the goal

Question 19

Study showing goal is consistent and actor looks like an agent

Answer 19

Procedures:
By 3-5 months, infants can use repeated reaching to infer a goal. But what if it’s not a human reaching?

A robotic arm keeps reaching for the frog, which is upper right corner. But then, in one condition, they reach for the same location, but the duck and frog location is switched, so now they are reaching for the duck. When infants see this, they are bored.

In the other condition, the robotic arm changes direction to get the frog. This leads to the infants being surprised.

Since they don’t attribute agency to robotic arms so were surprised when they followed the goal consistently .

Question 20

Do 3-month-old infants expect goal-directed actions to be efficient?

Answer 20

Yes, babies expect agents to act efficiently

Question 21

Efficient Action Study

Answer 21

Procedures:
Habituate infants to actions over the barrier (reaching over the barrier) to get ball.

Then, when you remove the barrier, you have the experimenter in one condition do the action efficiently by going directly to the ball. When infants see this, they are bored

The other condition is that the experimenter does the action as if the barrier is still present. This leads to infants being surprised since they expected the demonstrator to complete the action efficiently.

Question 22

Efficient action that is unusually experiment

Answer 22

Procedures:
An experimenter taps the light switch with their head while their hands are out (an unusual action). Since their hands are out, it implies that they are technically able to use their hands to turn the light on, but there has to be something special about the light that you need to use your head, so they copy the actions. 70% of infants copy their actions.

The other condition had the experimenter tap the light with their head, but now their hands are covered. This implies that they can’t use their arms since they are occupied, so you have to use your head instead. But the infant then asked to turn the light on, realizes their hands are free, so they can just use their hands. Thus, only 20% of infants use their heads.

Implications:
14 month olds are smart about agents’ abilities and intentions
Selectively imitate inefficient actions only when they appear intentional
Language can indicate that an actor intends an action

Question 23

Do infants expect goal-motivated behaviors to be desirable?

Answer 23

Yes, by 8 months infants expect successful agents to be happy after completing goal

Question 24

Desirable outcomes study

Answer 24

Procedures:
Have the agent go over a block over and over.

After they completed the goal in one condition, the agent is happy. This is boring for the infant since they expect the agent to be happy they completed their goal.

In the other condition, after completing the goal, the agent is sad. This is surprising for the infant since they expect the agent to be happy they completed their goal.

Question 25

Overall Implications

Answer 25

Babies have sophisticated theories Theory of physics: objects are solid, persistent, spatiotemporally consistent, obey gravity Theory of mind: agents usually try to be efficient, are happy when they succeed, etc. Your theory of physics, mind, etc. builds on top of infant theories