Shinskey Jeanne L, Bogartz Richard S, Poirier Christopher R
Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Infancy. 2000 Jul;1(3):323-346. doi: 10.1207/S15327078IN0103_3. Epub 2000 Jul 1.
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 semi transparent 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.
小婴儿在寻找隐藏物体时可能会受到限制，因为他们缺乏将遮挡物从物体上移开的手段-目的动作技能。通过向5至8个月大的婴儿展示藏在透明、半透明和不透明窗帘后面的物体来研究这一说法。如果手段-目的缺陷解释了搜索限制，那么婴儿在透明窗帘后寻找物体的次数不应比在半透明或不透明窗帘后寻找物体的次数更多。然而，遮挡程度对手动搜索和视觉注意力有显著影响。与半透明或不透明窗帘相比，婴儿在透明窗帘后更多地找回并接触物体，更多地接触窗帘，更少地转移视线。在允许搜索前增加时间延迟以及在遮挡后呈现干扰物会进一步抑制婴儿的行为。这些发现不支持手段-目的缺陷假说，但与小婴儿缺乏客体永久性的说法一致。
