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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Cognitive Development

Object permanence

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounCommon term

In child development & early education, object permanence means: A baby's understanding that people and things still exist when they cannot be seen, heard or touched.

In Turkish: nesne sürekliliği, nesne kalıcılığı

How it is used

A term from Piaget's sensorimotor stage, common in textbooks and exams. It usually develops during the first year, which is why babies enjoy peekaboo and start searching for hidden toys.

Example sentences

  1. Peekaboo is fun for babies who are just developing object permanence.

  2. Once he had object permanence, he lifted the cloth to find the hidden ball.

Common collocations

  • develop object permanence
  • test object permanence
  • hidden object task
  • sensorimotor stageThe first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, from birth to about two years, when babies learn about the world through their senses and movements.
  • cognitive developmentThe development of thinking skills such as attention, memory, problem-solving, reasoning and understanding how the world works.
  • separation anxietyDistress a young child shows when separated from a parent or main carer, such as crying or clinging; in babies and toddlers it is a normal stage of development.
  • infantA baby, usually a child in the first year of life; some services use the word for children up to about 18 months or two years.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cognitive Development

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