Infant Causal Perception
Undercover Agent Study (15 and 18 months of age)
This study examines infants' perception and understanding
of causation. In this experiment, infants are shown complex causal
chain events involving two toy vehicles and a jack-in-the-box shaped
dog house. In direct launching events, one toy moves across the screen
and stops upon contact with a second stationary toy in the center
of the screen. On impact, the second toy begins to move and stops
when contact is made with the doghouse. At the time of impact with
the second toy, a puppy pops out of the doghouse. Delayed launching
events are the same except that there is a 2-s delay after contact
is made by the first object before the second object begins to move.
Using these events in the habituation paradigm, we are able to determine
how infants ascribe causality to the different objects in causal chains,
and are currently working on tracing a developmental timeline for
their understanding of the primary agent in these events.
Related Publications:
- Cohen, L.B. & Amsel, G. (1998).Precursors to infants'
perception of causality.
Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 713-731.
- Cohen, L. B., Amsel, G., Redford, M. A., & Casasola, M.
(1998). The
development of infant causal perception. In A. Slater (ed.), Perceptual development: Visual,
Auditory, and Speech Perception in Infancy. (pp. 167-209). East
Sussex, UK: Psychology Press Ltd.
- Cohen, L.B., Rundell, L. J., Spellman, B. A.,
& Cashon, C. H. (1999).
Infants' perception of causal chains. Psychological Science. 10, 412-418
- Casasola, M. & Cohen, L.B. (2000). Infants'
association of linguistic labels with causal actions. Developmental
Psychology. 36, 155-168.
- Chaput, H. H. & Cohen, L. B. (In press). A
model of infant causal perception and its development.
Proceedings of the 2001 Cognitive Science Society Meeting,
Edinburgh.
Related Convention Presentations:
- Cohen, L.B., Rundell, L.J., Spellman, B.A., &
Cashon, C. (1998, April). Infants' perception of causal chains.
Poster presented at International Conference on Infant Studies,
Atlanta.
- Chaput, H. H. & Cohen, L. B. (2001, August).
A model
of infant causal perception and its development.
Poster presented at Cognitive Science Society Meeting, Edinburgh.
Example Stimuli:
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