The early development of object knowledge: A study of infants’ visual anticipations during action observation.

Hunnius, Sabine & Bekkering, Harold. (2010). The early development of object knowledge: a study of infants' visual anticipations during action observation. Developmental psychology, 46. Developmental Psychology, Vol 46(2), Mar 2010, 446-454. doi:10.1037/a0016543

The reason why I chose this study is due to a study found in the textbook. It’s fascinating how the human brain can in less than one year can go from an overstimulated network still  developing and into a cognitively profound structure capable of planning and reason.

 Overman and Bachevalier did a study in which children have to recognize objects and single out the correct one in order to receive food. Hunnius and Bekkering’s experiment also is object recognition, but also object functionality, both of which require the use of the forebrain. Hunnius and Bekkering's study was designed to see how how young a person had to be before obect functionality could be realized.
 The sample consisted of infants as young as 6 months of age to adults. In the study, individuals were watch and measured in terms of how they acted in reaction the movie being presented and a specific object and behavior being the focus. Three objects (a cup, a phone, a brush) were used by one person. Individuals watched movies with the items either being used correctly or incorrectly. The study concludes that even at six months of age, infants are able to attach function and object. However, infants had hard time dealing with an object being used in a way that is contrary to what the infant expected. The study also concludes that as people grow, people are less hampered by the typical usage of a given objects.