Development of basic intuitions about physical support during early childhood: Evidence from a novel eye-tracking paradigm

Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, we assessed the development of 2- to 6-year-old children’s intuitions about the physical support of symmetrical and asymmetrical objects in two experiments (Experiment 1: N = 98; Experiment 2: N = 288). Children were presented with video sequences demonstrating how two identical blocks were lowered onto a platform before being released simultaneously. In the critical test trials, both blocks remained in place although only one of them was sufficiently supported. As expected, children tended to look longer at the block, which should have fallen. Taken together, the results indicate that even 2-year-old children are sensitive to the amount of contact between symmetrical blocks and a supporting platform and even anticipate which block is going to fall. Nonetheless, we found a considerable improvement with age in this respect. Two-year-olds did not consider an object’s weight distribution reliably when assessing its stability and even older preschoolers performed much more poorly with asymmetrical than symmetrical blocks. We conclude that intuitions about support are still weak and limited in toddlers and that they improve considerably during early childhood.