The search behavior of 12 to 14 month-old infants on a five-choice invisible displacement hiding task

Abstract

Twelve- to 14-month-old infants were presented with a series of invisible displacement hiding trials at a first location (A) and, subsequently, at a second location (B). Infants had to choose among five salient alternative search locations on each trial. Contrary to Piaget's Stage V task predictions, infants did not make the “A, not B” search error. That is, infants seldom searched at A during B-hiding trials. Instead, beginning with the first hiding trial at B (and at A), search responses tended to cluster at or near the correct hiding location. The results are interpreted in terms of a memory hypothesis which suggests that infants are generally able to encode, store, and retrieve at least some information concerning the current spatial location of objects during invisible displacements.