{"id":78592,"date":"2023-10-12T11:36:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T08:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/invidyo.com\/blog?p=78592"},"modified":"2023-10-10T11:40:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T08:40:14","slug":"object-permanence-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/invidyo.com\/blog\/en\/object-permanence-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important","title":{"rendered":"Object Permanence: Milestones In Your Baby’s Cognitive Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have a child, then you sure have played hide and seek or peekaboo with them. According to child experts, you just helped your baby develop the concept of object permanence. Yup, with a little fun game!<\/span><\/p>\n

Object permanence is an important cognitive milestone that your baby learns throughout their first year of life. <\/span>This concept, which the child psychologist and researcher first discovered, Jean Piaget<\/strong>, has a significant role in the theory of cognitive development. It describes a child\u2019s ability<\/span> to know that things continue to exists even when you can not actively see or hear them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Babies under a certain age become upset when an object, a pet or a person is out of sight. This is because they are too young to understand that the object, the pet or the person still continues to exist even though they can\u2019t see or hear them. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the following article, you will learn more about the concept of object permanence and why it is so important.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What is object permanence?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Object permanence is an important cognitive milestone a baby reaches when they begin to understand that a parent, other familiar people, a pet, a toy or any other object still exists even if though they can\u2019t see or hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n

First discovered by a psychologist named Jean Piaget, object permanence means that your baby has started being able to imagine or “see” a person, a pet or anything in their mind, even if it’s not present in front of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Baby Hearing Development: All You Need to Know<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is object permanence important?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before your baby develops object permanence, from their point of view, things that leave their sight are gone and don\u2019t exist any more. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when your infant drops a toy out of view, they don’t look around to find it. But once they start developing object permanence, they begin to look for the item or express their unhappiness about not having it at that moment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Developing object permanence is important because it\u2019s the first step to other types of symbolic understanding and reasoning<\/a>, such as pretend play, memory development, and language development. Object permanence is also important for the emotional development of the baby, including forming developing attachments.<\/span><\/p>\n

So the development of object permanence helps your baby reach many important milestones:<\/span><\/p>\n