Final answer:
The first four sensorimotor substages are simple reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, and coordination of secondary circular reactions. Object permanence develops between 5 and 8 months, as infants start to understand that hidden objects still exist.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development is the sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about 2 years old. During this stage, children learn about the world through their senses and motor behavior. There are four sensorimotor substages:
- Simple reflexes (0-1 month): Infants respond only to instinctual reflexes, such as sucking and grasping.
- Primary circular reactions (1-4 months): Infants start to repeat pleasurable actions they discovered by chance, such as sucking their thumb or kicking their legs.
- Secondary circular reactions (4-8 months): Infants intentionally repeat actions in order to produce interesting results, such as shaking a rattle to hear it make noise.
- Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8-12 months): Infants begin to show goal-directed behavior and can use one action to cause another action, such as pushing a button to make a toy light up.
Object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight, develops over the course of the first year. According to Piaget, young infants do not remember an object after it has been removed from sight.
However, between 5 and 8 months old, infants develop object permanence and show an understanding that hidden objects still exist. This can be observed through tasks like hiding a toy under a blanket and seeing if the infant reaches for it.