Human infants come pre-loaded with some understanding of basic physics (naïve physics). We know this from how infants behave when they encounter events that seemingly defy the laws of physics. For example, infants stare longer at physically impossible events (eg., an object moving through a wall) than at possible events (eg., an object hitting a wall and coming to rest).
A new study suggests that there are stable individual differences in how infants respond to impossible events. Researchers Jasmin Perez and Lisa Feigenson showed infants two events that defy expectations and measured how long they were fixated on these events. At 11 months old, infants saw an object roll down a ramp and seemingly pass through a solid wall, and at 17 months old they saw an object get pushed completely over the edge of a platform, yet not fall.
The study found that an infant’s interest in the first event (measured by fixation time) significantly predicted their interest in the second event. Moreover, the study found a connection between how long infants stared at impossible events and their curiosity at 3 years old.
“Outcome looking at 11 mo (at a toy that appeared to have passed through a wall) significantly predicted outcome looking at 17 mo (at a different toy that appeared to hover in midair).”
When these infants turned three, researchers collected parental reports of their explanation-based curiosity and interest in novelty. Parents scored their children on items like “My child devotes considerable effort trying to figure out things that are confusing or unclear” and “My child is attracted to new things in his/her environment”.
Researchers found that the time infants spent looking at the surprising event at 17 months old significantly predicted their explanation-based curiosity at 3 years old, but not interest in novelty. The findings suggest that there are stable individual differences in how infants react to events that defy expectations, and that it maybe connected to explanation-based curiosity later in life.
Read more about the study here.
