Object permanence: characteristics of this ability, and when it appears

Many parents will have noticed that, when they are very young, their children do not cry when they are left alone in their room. This makes them think that their children are not afraid of being alone and, therefore, they do not fight much.

However, this belief is shattered when the baby, who is already a few months old, now misses them: cries, howls, throws tantrums... What happened? Why was it not a problem to be alone before and now it is?

The answer to this we have in the idea of ​​the permanence of the object, a capacity that develops as the child goes beyond the first two years of life.

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What is object permanence?

During the first months of life, when any object is out of sight of the baby, in her mind this object ceases to exist. It is as if it vanished. If she doesn't see it, it doesn't exist and that's it. However, after 4 months, she goes, very gradually, understanding that not seeing an object does not mean that it has disappeared, but that it may be hidden. We call this object permanence, and it is a capacity especially described by the famous Swiss psychologist

Jean piaget and the main achievement of the sensorimotor stage.

Having the ability to mentally represent an object is a fundamental aspect so that, when you stop seeing it, understand that it continues to exist. Newborn children do not have the capacity to internally represent objects, people, or other elements, with which, if they stop seeing them automatically they behave as if they had dissipated. For example, when her parents leave the room, take away the bottle, or simply do not see a toy, the baby believes that it no longer exists.

However, As she grows, she is more and more aware that not seeing something is not synonymous with the fact that it no longer exists.. Although in a very timid way, the notion of the permanence of the object develops with age. First, the baby understands that if she sees parts of a half-hidden object, it means that the object in question is there. Later, when she is hiding a toy from her, as long as she has seen how they were hiding it, she will go in search of it. By the age of two, he is able to search for objects on his own.

How do you develop this skill?

In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget speaks of up to six substages in which the notion of object permanence develops.

1. Sub-stage of reflex activity

This sub-stage runs from birth to the first month. The baby learns how her body can move, although she still has very blurred vision and her attention spans are rather short.. It limits itself to exercising innate reflexes.

The three main achievements of this sub-stage are finger licking, following with your eyes something that moves, and closing your hands.

2. Sub-stage of primary circular reactions

It corresponds to month 1 to 4 of life. The baby sees objects and begins to notice them more. When an object is hidden from her, the baby may try to look for it for a while, but she is not going to try very hard and, after a short time, she will pretend that it no longer exists. There is no permanence of the object in any way.

However, the baby does show certain anticipatory responses to familiar images and sounds, such as opening his mouth to a spoon or sucking at the air when he sees a bottle. Her actions are less reflective than in the previous substep, and she already behaves more intentionally. She discovers how to use her body.

3. Sub-stage of secondary circular reactions

This stage goes from 4 to 8 months. Babies reach for objects that are partially hidden, especially in the seventh month. It is not permanence of the object at all, since if the object is completely hidden the baby will not look for it.

4. Coordination substep of circular secondary reactions

This stage goes from 8 to 12 months and we can already talk about the permanence of the object. The child is capable of recovering an object that is totally hidden in the same room, as long as she has seen how it was hidden from her.

5. Tertiary circular reactions

This stage goes from 12 to 18 months. The boy is in a position to retrieve a hidden object several times within his point of view, but cannot locate it when it is out of his perceptual field. That is, if a toy is hidden from him without him seeing it and in a place that does not sound like it might be, the child will not find it. This is because the baby does not yet have the inner representation capacity to represent the object and imagine various places where she could be.

6. Symbolic problem solving

The child already fully understands the idea of ​​permanence of the object. He is able to understand that objects can be hidden in new placesIn other words, you can make a mental representation that a bear is, for example, inside a container, even though you have never seen it there before. You can mentally represent images of the object and consider different scenarios where it could be. He doesn't need to have seen how they were hiding him to go in search of him.

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What is the relationship between object permanence and separation anxiety?

There is a lot of relationship between object permanence and separation anxiety. Surely many parents have experienced it first hand, especially if they have enrolled their children in nursery school very early.

The first months, when they are barely a year old, they behave very well when the parents leave once they have been left there. However, as they get older there is a time when they start crying when left alone, be it at daycare or elsewhere.

This separation anxiety is explained by the notion of object permanence. The little boy begins to understand that his parents have not disappeared, but that they have left, and he does not know when they will return.. That the main attachment figures leave them alone is something that babies can live with a lot of anguish and, they can even interpret it as abandonment, which is why they start to cry.

How to find out if the baby has acquired this ability?

Although Piaget's findings have been fundamental to developmental psychology, not a few question them. An example of this is found in T. G. R. Bower, who With his experiments, he found cases of total acquisition of object permanence in children as young as 3 months old., something that is very premature considering that Piaget spoke of, at least, 16 months.

Whether it is true or not, what there should be no doubt is that each child is a world and that the speed with which he will acquire the permanence of the object varies from person to person. The substages proposed by Piaget should not be seen as the fixed and immovable normal, since there may be children who take a little longer and others who take a little less. It has even been debated whether the permanence of the object depends on cultural factors and early stimulation.

There are many games that parents can use to check to what extent their child has or has not developed the first signs of permanence of the object and see if it is advanced or a little behind with respect to its chronological age. Next we are going to talk about two very simple and easy to do at home.

1. The Cucú-tras

The cuckoo is the typical game that every father, mother, brother and grandfather has made to a newborn. It simply consists of the adult covering his face with his hands saying "Where is Menganito?" and then he uncovers it and says "Here he is." This very typical game may seem like a very basic thing, but if another person watches how the child reacts when the person in front of her covers her face, she will understand to what extent she has or does not have a slight notion of permanence of the object.

If he has not yet developed this ability at all, the moment his father or mother covers his face he will be truly impressed.. It is as if he were wondering “Has dad disappeared? he is no longer in front of me ”. More or less after 8 months this trick will no longer serve to amuse the baby, since he understands that behind the hands there is a face, especially if he continues to see the ears or hair.

2. Hide toys and play hide and seek

If what we want to do is to replicate Piaget's experiment, the best way is by using toys and hiding them. Depending on how we hide them, we will be able to discover in which sub-stage it is. We can also play hide and seek and see how the little one reacts.

It may be that by partially hiding it, the baby understands that this toy is there, but when we hide it completely, even if he has seen how we did it, he will no longer go looking for it. It can also be done by playing hide and seek, making his attachment figure partially or totally hide and the child having seen how he did it. In this case, he would be in the sub-stage of secondary circular reactions.

Bibliographic references:

• Bower, T.G.R. (1974). Development in infancy. San Francisco: Freeman.
• Baillargeon, R., Spelke, E.S. & Wasserman, S. (1985). Object Permanence in Five-Month-Old Infants. Cognition, 20, 191-208.
• Bower, T. G. R., & Wishart, J. G. (1972). The effects of motor skill on object remains. Cognition, 1, 165–172.