Infants' knowledge about occlusion and containment events: A surprising discrepancy

Citation
Sj. Hespos et R. Baillargeon, Infants' knowledge about occlusion and containment events: A surprising discrepancy, PSYCHOL SCI, 12(2), 2001, pp. 141-147
Citations number
24
Categorie Soggetti
Psycology
Journal title
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
ISSN journal
09567976 → ACNP
Volume
12
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
141 - 147
Database
ISI
SICI code
0956-7976(200103)12:2<141:IKAOAC>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
The present research examined whether infants acquire general principles or more specific rules when learning about physical events. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated 4.5-month-old infants' ability to judge how much of a tall object should be hidden when lowered behind an occluder versus inside a con tainer. The results indicated that at this age infants are able to reason a bout height in occlusion but not containment events. Experiment 3 showed th at this latter ability does not emerge until about 7.5 months of age. The m arked discrepancy in infants' reasoning about height in occlusion and conta inment events suggests that infants sort events into distinct categories, a nd acquire separate rules for each category.