The effects of graded occlusion on manual search and visual attention in 5- to 8-month-old infants

Abstract

Young infants may be limited in searching for hidden objects because they lack the means-end motor skill to lift occluders from objects. This account was investigated by presenting 5- to 8-month-old infants with objects hidden behind transparent, semitransparent, and opaque curtains. If a means-end deficit explains search limitations, then infants should search no more for an object behind a transparent curtain than for objects behind semitransparent or opaque curtains. However, level of occlusion had a significant effect on manual search and visual attention. Infants retrieved and contacted the object more, contacted the curtain more, and looked away less with the transparent curtain than with the semitransparent or opaque curtains. Adding a time delay before allowing search and presenting a distraction after occlusion further depressed infants' behavior. The findings fail to support the means-end deficit hypothesis, but are consistent with the account that young infants lack object permanence.