According to core knowledge theory relating to objects, at about 4.5 months infants have which understanding?

• A. Object permanence
• B. Color discrimination
• C. Size constancy
• D. Causality inference

Answer: (A)

Infants have an early, intuitive grasp that objects continue to exist even when not visible. By about four and a half months, this understanding shows up as object permanence: babies expect that a hidden object still exists and won’t pass through solid barriers or vanish without a trace. This idea comes from core knowledge theory, which argues that infants are born with specialized, domain-specific understandings about objects and their properties. In experiments, babies look longer when an event violates this expectation—such as seeing an object disappear behind a screen—indicating they detect that something should persist even when out of sight. The other options describe perceptual or causal abilities that aren’t the focus of this early object-persistence understanding.