Shinskey, J L and Munakata, Y (2001) Detecting transparent barriers: Clear evidence against the means-end deficit account of search failures. Infancy, 2 (3).
Full text access: Open
The standard explanation of infants' search failures with hidden objects, despite an apparent sensitivity to them, is a deficit in the means-end skill for retrieving objects from occluders. Studies equating means-end demands for retrieving toys from transparent and opaque barriers challenge this account by showing that infants suceed more with visible objects. However they suffer from a critical limitation: Infants may retrieve visible objects without noticing the transparent barriers in front of them. We addressed this concern by requiring infants to notice a barrier to retrieve a toy and specifically to pull down a rotating screen to retrieve a toy from behind it. Seven-month-olds used this means-end skill more often with transparent barrier than an opaque one. Thus, neither a means-end deficit nor an ability to ignore transparent barriers fully account for search failures. Relations to other findings challenge the means-end deficit account and implications for approaches to studying cognitive development are discussed.
This is a Published version This version's date is: 2001 This item is not peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/b5c90099-88ec-187c-34e4-3d6329b2187e/1/
Deposited by () on 23-Dec-2009 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 23-Dec-2009
This article was published in the journal 'Infancy'. All copyright is retained by the publisher Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.