The foundations of object permanence: Does perceived cohesion determine infants’ appreciation of the continuous existence of material objects?

One of the most fundamental achievements in infants’ cognitive development is their appreciation that material objects exist permanently in space and time. Recent findings suggest that infants fail to identify fragmented material objects as continuously existing items. Four experiments assessed 8–12-month-old infants’ ability to further represent an object that was fragmented into two or more parts. Results suggest that infants successfully trace the spatiotemporal displacement of fragmented objects, but that their processing of size/quantity-related property information may be affected. This suggests that, contrary to recent claims, 8- to 12-month-old infants can and do appreciate the continuity of fragmented objects.