Which characteristic is associated with Piaget's sensorimotor stage?

Which characteristic is associated with Piaget's sensorimotor stage?

• A. Object permanence
• B. Abstract reasoning
• C. Conservation
• D. Symbolic thought

Answer: (A)

In Piaget's sensorimotor stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and actions, and a key milestone is object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. This ability marks a shift from purely sensory-motor exploration to forming mental representations of the world, which lays the groundwork for later cognitive development. The other characteristics belong to later stages: abstract reasoning appears in the formal operational stage, conservation is understood in the concrete operational stage, and symbolic thought emerges in the preoperational stage with language and pretend play.

In Piaget's sensorimotor stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and actions, and a key milestone is object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. This ability marks a shift from purely sensory-motor exploration to forming mental representations of the world, which lays the groundwork for later cognitive development. The other characteristics belong to later stages: abstract reasoning appears in the formal operational stage, conservation is understood in the concrete operational stage, and symbolic thought emerges in the preoperational stage with language and pretend play.