Infants' means-end search for hidden objects in the absence of visual feedback

Infants beyond 8 months of age typically succeed in search tasks that requi re them to sequence multiple-stage, means-end actions. However, it is uncle ar whether infants depend upon visual feedback of limb movements and their consequences during search. We examined whether means-end search is depende nt upon visual feedback by testing 8.5-month-olds' ability to uncover and r etrieve objects in the dark. Sound was used to direct infants' initial resp onses toward a covered object, but was terminated as soon as they opened th e cover, forcing them to execute the second stage of the search behavior wi th no further feedback. An additional manipulation involved presenting 'no- toy' trials in the dark or 'surprise' trials, on which the toy was surrepti tiously removed after the lights had been extinguished. infants successfull y retrieved the toy on dark trials, albeit less frequently than in the ligh t. The organization of their means-ends behavior in the dark was highly sim ilar to that in the light, in terms of the number of reaches made on each t rial, the accuracy of their reaches, and the latency to respond before and after opening the cover. Infants were just as likely to search on dark tria ls with and without a toy, suggesting that infants failed to notice or did not consider the implications of no toy put under the cover. The ability of infants to perform the relatively complicated, means-end search in the dar k suggests that this sequential behavior can be carried out on the basis of the infant's memory of the covered object and the actions necessary to ach ieve the goal.