Work

Representing occluded objects in the human infant brain

Year: 2003

Type: article

Abstract: One of the most striking phenomena in cognitive development has been the apparent failure of infants to show 'object permanence' in manual reaching tasks although they show evidence for representing hidden objects in studies measuring looking times. We report a neural correlate of object permanence in six-month-old infants: a burst of gamma-band EEG activity over the temporal lobe that occurs during an occlusion event and when an object is expected to appear from behind an occluder. We interpret this burst as being related to the infants' mental representation of the occluded object.

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0067

Authors: Jordy Kaufman, Gergely Csibra, Mark H. Johnson

Institution: Birkbeck, University of London

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development