------------------ psychlotron.org.uk ------------------ Name of resource: Challenges to Piaget's Account of Object Permanence Author(s): Aidan Sammons Specification: AQA-B Details: Article for students covering (1) challenges to search tasks as a test of object permanence; (2) neonativist/'core knowledge' accounts of infant cognition. I give this as a comprehension with the following questions: 1. How does Piaget's search task conflate (mix up) competence and performance? 2. How do Bower's results challenge Piaget's theory and why are Bower's object permanence tasks considered more valid than Piaget's? 3. Bower et al (1973) found that an infant's object tracking movements continued even when the object they were tracking was made to vanish whilst they were watching it. Why does this cast doubt on the conclusions drawn from his earlier studies? 4. How does Baillargeon justify her conclusion that infants have an innate understanding of objects? 5. What does Spelke mean by 'core knowledge'? 6. Have Baillargeon and Spelke proved that infants are born with an innate understanding of the physical world? Explain your view.