| Poster | Poster Session 07 Program Schedule
02/16/2024
10:15 am - 11:30 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 07: Assessment/Psychometrics | Forensics/Noncredible Presentations
Final Abstract #7
Competence-Performance Discrepancy in Infant Object Permanence Assessment: Systematic Review
Mohamed Abdelghani, STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October, Giza, Egypt
Kara Fan, Rice University, Houston, United States
Hannah Pescaru, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
Paul Lewis, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, United States
Category: Assessment/Psychometrics/Methods (Child)
Keyword 1: child development (normal)
Keyword 2: executive functions
Keyword 3: frontal lobes
Objective:
The development of object permanence has been associated with child development milestones. Despite infants’ early potential competence, standard examinations of object permanence may underestimate infants’ abilities. This systematic review examines how various methodological cues affect infants' object search abilities, highlighting factors influencing their performance.
Participants and Methods:
The systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines using various iterations of keywords such as "object permanence", "infant", and "cues" in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases. This search yielded 1225 articles. Titles and abstracts were reviewed for duplicates, language (not in English), and relatedness to the topic (not about methods of object permanence exams) and excluded 1076 sources. The full texts of the remaining 153 articles were reviewed for relevance (focused on methods for assessing object permanence) and data (mention of the relationship between cues and object permanence). The final analysis included 22 articles.
Results:
The main method used for object permanence studies was the A-to-B trial, which involves hiding an object at one location (A) before hiding it at a second location (B) to test if infants can find the object at the new hiding spot. Auditory cues improved 6.5-month-olds' search for objects hidden in darkness (65% vs. 50%, p < 0.05) but not behind occluders (57% vs. 52%, p > 0.05). Longer delays between hiding and retrieval led to gradually increased errors in 9-month-olds, from 14% at 0 seconds to 49% at 1-2 seconds to 67% at 3 seconds to 70–77% at 5-7 seconds (p < 0.001). 9-month-olds were also impacted by the number of hiding location A trials. With one A trial, errors were 43% (p < 0.01). With six A trials, errors rose to 79% (p < 0.05). Errors did not increase significantly from six to eleven A trials (57%, p > 0.05). Social cues were associated with object search accuracy in 10-month-old infants. Full social communication cues, with the demonstrator establishing eye contact, smiling, using infant-directed speech, and shifting gaze between the infant and the hiding location, resulted in more perseverative errors in A to B trials (86%, p < 0.0001). Manual but noncommunicative hiding cues, where the demonstrator didn’t engage with the infant, resulted in moderate errors (57%, p = 0.025). With only object movements visible, errors were not significant (64%, p = 0.072). Error rates increased in 8–12-month-olds when objects were hidden twice in A prior to B versus three times in A prior to B (p < 0.01), and when objects were hidden inside versus on top of A before B (p < 0.05). Different hiding methods affected the assessment in an age-dependent manner. Screen occlusion led to fewer errors than hand occlusion in 10-month-olds (58% vs. 29%, p < 0.001) and 12-month-olds (75% vs. 42%, p < 0.001), but not in 14-month-olds (79% vs. 83%, p > 0.24).
Conclusions:
Infant cognition assessments have been associated with performance limitations due to methodological factors. More research on cue interaction methods is needed which could better inform clinical assessments.
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