In developmental psychology, what characterizes the sensory-motor phase?

The sensory-motor phase, which is the first of Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development, primarily occurs from birth to approximately two years of age. A key characteristic of this phase is the development of object permanence. Object permanence refers to the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. This cognitive milestone signifies a significant development in a child's ability to form mental representations of the world around them.

During the sensory-motor phase, infants learn about their environment through their senses and motor activities. They begin to understand that their actions can cause reactions in the environment, and as they reach milestones like crawling and walking, their exploration of the world expands. The realization that objects have permanence is crucial as it lays the foundation for more complex cognitive tasks and further stages of development, such as symbolic thought and problem-solving skills that will emerge later in childhood.

In contrast, other options represent cognitive skills that develop in later stages of cognitive development. For instance, complex thinking and reasoning are features of the formal operational stage, social dependency can be related to earlier developmental stages before independence develops, and abstract reasoning skills emerge much later, typically during adolescence. Therefore, the development of object permanence is the hallmark of the sensory-motor phase