Baillargeon’s infant abilities

• Who conducted extensive research on cognitive abilities in infancy, challenging Piaget's ideas?

  Renee Baillargeon
• What did Renee Baillargeon challenge about Piaget's sensorimotor stage?

  Infants' understanding of the physical world
• What is one aspect of the physical world that Baillargeon proposes even young babies understand?

  Object permanence
• According to the text, what are the two main components of Baillargeon's explanation of early infant abilities?

  • Knowledge of the physical world
  • Violation of expectation research
• Which of Piaget's stages is the first stage of cognitive development?

  Sensorimotor stage
• What age range did Piaget believe babies had a primitive understanding of the physical world?

  Under 8-9 months old
• According to Piaget, what knowledge do babies lack in the sensorimotor stage?

  Object permanence
• How did Piaget test object permanence in infants?

  By removing objects from their sight
• What did Piaget observe about babies and object permanence?

  They lose interest when objects are out of sight
• What is one criticism of Piaget's object permanence research?

  Babies lack necessary motor skills
• What is another criticism of Piaget's object permanence research, other than motor skills?

  Babies lose interest due to distraction
• What did later psychologists suggest was a reason for young babies not pursuing hidden objects?

  Lack of selective attention
• In what decade did Renee Baillargeon conduct her research?

  1980s
• What did Baillargeon propose as an alternative explanation for babies not pursuing hidden objects?

  Lack of motor skills or distraction
• What did Baillargeon suggest about young babies' understanding of the physical world?

  It is better developed than previously thought
• What research method did Baillargeon develop to investigate infant understanding?

  Violation of expectation method
• What does VOE stand for in the context of Baillargeon's research?

  Violation of expectation
• According to Baillargeon (2004), what do infants see in a typical VOE experiment?

  Expected and unexpected test events
• In a VOE experiment testing object permanence, how many conditions do infants typically see?

  Two conditions
• In VOE research, what does an unexpected event violate?

  Infants' expectation
• In the control condition of a VOE experiment, how does the object behave?

  As expected with object permanence
• In the control condition of a VOE experiment involving a screen and objects of different heights, what would be expected?

  Tall object appears, short does not
• How old were the participants in Baillargeon and Graber's 1987 study?

  5-6 months old
• Who conducted early research into violation of expectation in 1987?

  Baillargeon and Graber
• In Baillargeon and Graber's study, what type of event was shown during the familiarization phase?

  Short and tall rabbits disappear
• In Baillargeon and Graber's study, what two conditions were present in the test event?

  Possible and impossible
• In the possible condition of Baillargeon and Graber's study, what happens when the tall rabbit passes behind the screen?

  The rabbit is seen in the window
• In the impossible condition of Baillargeon and Graber's study, what happens when the tall rabbit passes behind the screen?

  The rabbit is not seen in the window
• What should a baby who has developed object permanence show in the impossible event?

  Surprise
• In Baillargeon and Graber's study, how long did infants look at the unexpected event on average?

  33.07 seconds
• In Baillargeon and Graber's study, how long did infants look at the expected event on average?

  25.11 seconds
• How did the researchers interpret the infants looking longer at the unexpected event?

  Surprise and awareness of object permanence
• According to Baillargeon and Graber, what did the infants' surprise in the unexpected condition demonstrate?

  An understanding of object permanence
• In occlusion studies, what does it mean when one object occludes another?

  It is in front of it
• Besides occlusion, what other concepts have VOE studies been used to test?

  Containment and support
• What is the central idea behind containment in VOE studies?

  Object remains inside opened container
• What is the central idea behind support in VOE studies?

  Unsupported objects should fall
• According to Hespos and Baillargeon (2008), what do infants show in 'impossible' events?

  Understanding of the physical world
• Who proposed that humans are born with a physical reasoning system (PRS)?

  Baillargeon et al (2012)
• According to Baillargeon, what kind of awareness do we start with in relation to the physical properties of the world?

  Primitive awareness