object permanence
Things still exist
Object permanence is the understanding that things continue to exist even when you can't see them.
The concept comes from developmental psychology—infants lack it, which is why peek-a-boo delights them.
In casual use, accusing someone of lacking object permanence suggests they forget about people or things the moment they're out of sight: My cat has no object permanence; he cries if I close the bathroom door.
Face-hiding infant amusement
- hide-and-seekConcealment pursuit pastime
- searchingLooking to find
- surpriseUnexpected event causing astonishment
- disappearanceAct of going missing
reappearance · covering · uncovering · reaching · grasping · looking · tracking · exploration
Child cognition researcher
- sensorimotorRelating sensation to movement
- infantVery young child
- milestoneNotable event marking progress
- maturationProcess of becoming complete
stages · toddler · newborn · cognitive development · neurodevelopment · child psychology · assimilation · accommodation
State of perceiving reality
- understandingMental comprehension of something
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
- recognitionPerceiving something as known
- memoryMind's retention capacity
attention · expectation · anticipation · perception · consciousness · visual tracking · spatial reasoning · abstract thinking
Diminished reaction over time
- eye trackingMeasuring visual fixation points
- replicationAct of duplicating precisely
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
peekaboo
Face-hiding infant amusement
- hide-and-seekConcealment pursuit pastime
- searchingLooking to find
- surpriseUnexpected event causing astonishment
disappearance · reappearance · covering · uncovering · reaching · grasping · looking · tracking · exploration · curiosity
Piaget
Child cognition researcher
- sensorimotorRelating sensation to movement
- infantVery young child
- milestoneNotable event marking progress
maturation · stages · toddler · newborn · cognitive development · neurodevelopment · child psychology · assimilation · accommodation · schema
awareness
State of perceiving reality
- understandingMental comprehension of something
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
- recognitionPerceiving something as known
memory · attention · expectation · anticipation · perception · consciousness · visual tracking · spatial reasoning · abstract thinking · working memory
habituation
Diminished reaction over time
- eye trackingMeasuring visual fixation points
- replicationAct of duplicating precisely
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- toddlerstoddler, three-year-old, toddlerhood, terrible twos, first steps
- child developmentbaby, toddler, newborn, infancy, milestones
- baby playpeek-a-boo, peekaboo, pat-a-cake, patty-cake, rattles
- toddler behaviorstantrums, thumb sucking, crying, clinging, saying no
- animal cognitionlearning, memory, problem solving, reasoning, attention
- cognitive developmentsensorimotor, preoperational, accommodation, equilibration, egocentrism
object permanenceout of sight out of mind
object, objective, objects, objectivity, permanence, objectively, objectify, objectification, objectifying