Object permanence: the dictionary describes it as "a child's ability to know that objects continue to exist even if they can no longer be seen or heard...this plays a role important role in the theory of cognitive development. .” The idea of ​​object permanence has been presented in different cartoons, such as Family Guy. The family's one-year-old baby, Stewie, is eating a meal when his father happens to walk by and play a game of peek-a-boo with him. Stewie panics when his father hides his face behind his hands and immediately starts looking for him. Stewie is startled when his father suddenly reappears and becomes frustrated when his father disappears again, right in the middle of his sentence. This is a great example of object permanence. As noted earlier, object permanence is a skill learned when we are infants and toddlers. There are six stages a child must go through to fully develop this essential skill: reflex pattern, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and different mental combinations. During the reflex pattern phase, the baby's visual tracking begins, even if his or her vision is still not great. This program is absolutely vital for the growth and development of the baby; the visual stimulation to which the child is exposed helps him learn to detect movements. The idea that toys and people might disappear has not yet begun to form at this point; the baby has no idea that there are things outside of his current world. A baby during the secondary circular movement phase will reach for a partially hidden toy; this is considered one of the main strengths of this stage as it shows that the baby is becoming more and more familiar with this...... middle of paper ......ve this understanding of the concept of permanence of the object; studying infants aged one to four months, Bower and Wishart found that an infant would continue to search for a toy for about ninety seconds after the lights in the room were turned off; the baby in question was lucky enough to see this toy and start grabbing it before the lights went out. Works Cited Carlos, JP. “Object permanence: the 6 stages of infant growth and development.” HubPages. Np, November 11, 2012. Web. March 2, 2014. .MacFarlane, Seth, prod. 03 - First 2 years - Object Permanence.mp4. Perf. Jen Byers. The guys in the family, 2011. the web. March 2, 2014. .McLeod, Saul. “Sensorimotor stage”. Simply psychology. Np, and Web. March 3 2014. .