Search Behavior on Multi-Choice Hiding Tasks: Evidence for an Objective Conception of Space in Infancy

Abstract

Nineto 10-month old infants were presented with a series of visible displacement hiding trials at a first location (A), and, subsequently, at a second location (B). Infants had to choose among 3, 5, or 6 salient alternative search locations on each trial. Infants seldom searched perseveratively during B-hiding trials, regardless of the number of alternative search locations presented. Instead, infant search attempts tended to cluster around the currently correct location during Aand B-hiding trials on all apparatuses. These findings suggest that infants do not err on visible displacement tasks because they (a) link objects with previous action-locations, (b) rely upon egocentric spatial reference systems, or (c) confuse different hiding locations as a result of a specific form of retrieval competition from the previous hiding location. The results are discussed as evidence for a memory explanation of infant search behavior which contends that infants comprehend the objective nature of spatial relationships, but are less effective information processors than older individuals.