Object permanence is a developmental milestone where a child realizes that an object exists even when it is out of sight. Jean Piaget coined the term and believed most babies reach this stage at around eight or nine months old. Piaget tested this by covering a toy with a blanket and observing the child’s reaction. However, some studies suggest that infants may perceive objects through other senses besides vision.
While for many children, a thing out of sight is also out of mind, there is a developmental milestone, called object permanence, that a child achieves when he realizes that the object exists even when it cannot be seen. . The term was coined by child development expert and psychologist Jean Piaget, who believed that most babies reach this stage when they are around eight or nine months old. All children develop slightly differently, however, and may reach this point earlier or later than others.
Piaget studied this milestone by conducting relatively simple tests on newborns. He would show a baby or toddler a toy and then cover it with a blanket. A child who had a clear concept of object permanence might reach for the toy or try to rip the blanket off the toy. A child who has not yet reached this stage may appear distressed that the toy is missing.
Parents, of course, have been testing object permanence for years with young children. Playing peek-a-boo with a three-month-old is quite delightful because the baby will often be pleasantly surprised every time the parent covers his hands with his face and then reappears. According to Piaget’s theory, joy results in the sudden reappearance of the parent, who has magically disappeared and returned. Babies older than five or six months may also hide under the covers and expect their parents to not find them, since the baby cannot see the parent.
A lack of understanding of this concept could also explain why babies tend not to fuss as much when they are younger and the parent is gone. This is not always the case, however, which may call some of Piaget’s theories into question. For example, studies of breastfed one-week-old babies suggest that they can easily distinguish between their mother’s breast milk and that of another woman. Basing the concept on what can only be perceived visually excludes what can be heard, smelled or touched.
In complete darkness, for example, a baby too young to have developed object permanence may feel comforted by the touch and smell of a mother sleeping nearby or picking up the baby. The mother exists even before the mother’s vision can be determined, so vision cannot be the only factor driving this concept.
It is clear, however, that as children begin to expand their visual perception, they may seem quite surprised by the sudden visual disappearance of a toy or loved one. However, they may still be able to smell, hear, or sense the missing item. This suggests that the infant has more ways of perceiving than those summarized by Piaget in his development and testing of the theory.
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