A classic study on this
Object permanence in 3½- and 4½-month-old infants.
Renée Baillargeon · 1987 · Developmental Psychology
- Children
- About 90 babies in three groups
- Where
- Illinois, United States
- Ages
- About 3 to 5 months
- How
- Researchers measured how long babies looked at possible and impossible scenes
- What it found
- Babies of 4½ months, and some of 3½ months, looked longer when a screen seemed to pass through a hidden box, as if surprised. At 3½ months only the babies who got used to the scene quickly showed this.
- Limits
- Small groups in one lab. Longer looking may not mean the same thing as understanding.