Two Magic Tricks Illustrate Object Permanence: Comparing Piaget’s Tasks & Baillergeon’s Habituation Method

At what point do infants have their own mental representations, and realize objects continue to exist even when not observed (i.e., object permanence). Jean Piaget (1952) suggested acquiring representations requires an arduous struggle throughout infancy, with the basic object concept forming only around 8 months, and taking 24 months to fully develop (e.g., A-not-B error task). Renee Baillargeon (1987), in sharp contrast, suggested object permanence may be built into human thought, and quickly becomes measurable by 4 months of age (i.e., habituation method). Piaget’s ideas about the active child struggling to form his or her own knowledge laid the foundation for modern educational ideas (e.g., inquiry learning); Baillargeon’s nativist account laid the foundation for modern modularity hypotheses in Evolutionary Psychology. Two demonstrations with magic tricks engage students in learning about object permanence, and leave students with a thought-provoking question: Is Piaget or Baillargeon right?