Amy Pearl Lang’s Object Permanence

*June 2nd to July 7th *

Object permanence is a child’s ability to know that things keep existing even when they cannot be sensed. Infants under a certain age believe objects are gone forever when held behind the back. It is a special time, before the inner-voice, when baby’s thoughts are pure sensation. In less than a year of life, representational thoughts emerge so we can symbolically imagine that which cannot be seen.

Simple games let us practice our new skill. When you know something is hiding, you can seek it. Lose something precious and be delighted to find it again. We could think that a thing is only granted reality through our sensing of it (tree falls in a forest). The concept is innocent: surely things wouldn’t want to be there without me.. a sound that I missed is no sound at all.