'Object Permanence' is related to:

Key Points

• Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.
• This is a key cognitive milestone that is typically achieved during the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development, which occurs from birth to about 2 years of age.
• During the sensorimotor stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and their motor abilities.
• They explore objects by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing them.
• They also learn about the relationships between objects by moving them around and watching how they interact with each other.
• Object permanence is a complex cognitive skill that requires infants to understand that objects have a permanent existence, even when they are not visible. This understanding develops gradually over the course of the sensorimotor stage.
• In the early stages of the sensorimotor stage, infants may believe that objects disappear when they are out of sight. For example, if you hide a toy behind a blanket, an infant may look for the toy where they last saw it, even though they can no longer see it.
• However, as infants get older, they begin to understand that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. This is evident in the "peek-a-boo" game, which most infants enjoy playing around the age of 1 year.
• In this game, the adult hides their face behind their hands and then suddenly reappears. The infant typically smiles and laughs, because they know that the adult has not disappeared.
• The development of object permanence is an important milestone in cognitive development, because it allows infants to begin to understand the world around them in a more complex way. It also allows them to start to develop the ability to plan and anticipate events.
• The concrete operational stage of cognitive development occurs from about 7 to 11 years of age,
• and the formal operational stage of cognitive development occurs from about 11 to 15 years of age. These stages are characterized by the ability to think logically and abstractly, which is not necessary for object permanence.
• The preoperational stage of cognitive development occurs from about 2 to 7 years of age, and it is characterized by the development of symbolic thought. However, children in the preoperational stage still have difficulty understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight.

The correct answer is 3) Sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.