- 學位論文
四到九個月嬰兒在搆物行為中遭受困難時所產生之反應與物體恆存概念之相關
4- to 9- month-old Infants’ Digitalized Reactions from Throwing Impediments in the way of Reaching Behavior and Object Permanence
摘要
本研究的主要目的是從嬰兒搆物的行為來探究物體恆存概念發展。發展心理學家Piaget(1954)提出嬰兒在8-10個月後才發展出物體恆存(Object Permanence)概念，因為在Piaget的實驗中，一旦目標物被遮蓋，嬰兒就沒有搆物行為反應，據此說明嬰兒在這個年齡之前，如果物體從視線中消失（被阻擋或是遮蓋等），嬰兒就認為物體不再存在了。許多研究者對這樣的說法存疑，試圖推翻或解釋其結果，在反駁Piaget說法之中最廣泛被接受的觀點是「『手段-目的』不足」（Means-End Deficit）假說（e.g., Bower & Wishart, 1972; Baillargeon, 1987a; Shinskey & Munakata, 2003, et al），此論點認為嬰兒是因為動作協調上發展不完全導致無法完成物體恆存作業。如Baillargeon（1987a）採取以不需要透過伸手搆物的作業以及Bower & Wishart（1972）將物體置於黑暗中，僅剝奪視覺以降低嬰兒作業上的動作障礙這兩種作法，嬰兒顯示出可能有物體恆存的概念，但因偏離傳統的作業方式，實際上僅能為間接的旁證。因為沒有強有力的證據，至今仍為世人所爭論。 本研究為了解搆物行為(reaching behavior)與物體恆存概念的關聯，施測4個月到9個月大受試者，假設嬰兒搆物受到阻礙時發生的反應會隨著年齡有所變化。本研究的受試者皆從台灣北部方便取樣，共4位嬰兒（包含1位男孩，3位女孩），按年齡月份施測，其中一位從4個大月開始，一位從5個月大開始，一位從6個月大開始，一位從8個月大。實驗中，盡量使嬰兒上半身直立的坐姿（早期需人攙扶，後期可以自行坐立），實驗者操弄目標物呈現在嬰兒面前由近而遠和由遠而近，沒有任何遮蓋，以距離阻隔（Distance impediment）做為搆物的阻礙，並且設計一張上面有特定距離方格（grip map）放置於嬰兒坐位的下方將目標物與嬰兒之間的距離數據化，觀察分析嬰兒在目標物可搆得及不可搆得之間行為反應的變化和差異。研究結果顯示，在距離阻隔的操弄下，嬰兒的年齡和搆物頻率成正相關，而搆物頻率和目標物距離成負相關，另外在搆不著目標物時，嬰兒表現出的行為內涵，和Piaget實驗中目標物被遮蓋時嬰兒所展現的行為反應多所雷同，根據實驗的結果顯示，Piaget對嬰兒物體恆存的說法，可能是對其實驗結果做出過度的解釋。 嬰兒在九個月大以前，受限於動作的發展，在展現搆物行為上面有許多的限制，不同年齡的嬰兒受限性不同，面對搆物阻礙情境的行為反應也有所不同，從不同行為反應上看來，8、9個月以上嬰兒無法搆得目標時會有特定的受挫反應，因為個別差異的不同，會有發聲、轉頭、放棄、看身邊其它人等等的反應，但是在有足夠施展、支撐、平衡身體的姿勢即使物體移動到視線之外，嬰兒還是可以展現出搜尋的行為反應。
並列摘要
The apparent failure of infants’ notion of “object permanence” by reaching hidden objects is perhaps the most striking and debated phenomenon in cognitive development. Piaget (1952) claimed new born babies do not realize that object continues to exist when they are out of sight. The notion of object permanence is developed in infants of 8 to 10 months old. However, many opposing arguments do not provide direct evidence to explain the reasons why those infants in test trials failed in Piaget’s object permanence task, hence the focus of this research is to study the relation of infant’s reaching behavior and the notion of object permanence. The experiment was participated by 1 boy and 3 girls. One of them began from 4 months old, the second was began from 5 months old, the third one began from 6 months old, and the last one began from 8 months old. In the experiment examined our reasons upon a new object permanence task. Distance Impediment is created when the distance between the infant and the object increases( or decreases). As the infant tries to reach for the object, at the same time the object become unreachable, the infant loses( or regains )consciousness of the object still exists and therefore appeared to be that the object has ceased( or reappeared )to exist, as out of reach, out of mind. The distance between the infant and the object is measured over a digital grid map. The maximum distance measured, which the infant would be conscious of the object still existing, is named as the notion of object permanence. It is speculated that infants not only out of sight, out of mind, but also out of reach, out of mind ― even the target is always before the baby’s bare eyes.