Object Permanence and Memory Development in the First Two Years
During the first two years of a child’s life, significant advancements occur in the areas of object permanence and memory. By the age of one, a child demonstrates the ability to locate an object even after it has been moved multiple times and begins to understand the concept of tracking. However, it is between the ages of 18 months and two years that object permanence is fully established. At this stage, a child can actively search for an object by anticipating its possible location, even without witnessing its relocation.
Blanket and Ball Study: Understanding Object Permanence
In his quest to understand object permanence, renowned psychologist Jean Piaget conducted an experiment known as the blanket and ball study. The aim of this study was to determine whether children possessed the cognitive ability to acknowledge the continued existence of objects, even when they were hidden from view.
During the experiment, Piaget would place a toy under a blanket in front of the child and observe their reaction. If the child actively searched for the toy, it indicated that they understood object permanence. This meant that they were aware that the toy was still present, even though it was temporarily concealed from their sight. Based on his observations, Piaget concluded that the concept of object permanence typically develops in children around the age of eight months.