CHILDRENS PERCEPTION OF CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS MOVEMENT

The significance of E. S. Spelke and colleagues' (E. S. Spelke & C. Ho fsten, 1986; E. S. Spelke & R. Kestenbaum, 1986; E. S. Spelke, R. Kest enbaum, D. J. Simons, & D. Wein, 1995) results that conflict with J. P iaget's (1952, 1955) theory of the object concept development was exam ined by a modified replication of E. S. Spelke and R. Kestenbaum's stu dy. The present study involved 2- to 4-year-olds and events consisting of teddy bear pictures moving along a continuous or discontinuous cou rse, with entering and exiting figures identical (ID) to or different (DIF) from one another. Ferry participants in each age group saw all e vents in random order and gave verbal interpretations. The authors jud ged ID events as involving 1 object and DIF events as involving 2 obje cts. Continuity of movement failed to affect judgments of numerical id entity. Implications for Piaget's theory and Spelke's theory are discu ssed.