Picture perception in infants: Do 9-month-olds attempt to grasp objects depicted in photographs

Two experiments tested the DeLoache, Pierroutsakos, Uttal, Rosengren, and Gottlieb (1998) claim that 9-month-old infants attempt to grasp objects depicted in photographs. In Experiment 1, 9-month-olds viewed an object, a photograph of the object, and 2 flat, nonpictorial displays. On average, they reached for the photograph and nonpictorial displays with their hands approximately horizontal and close to the display surfaces, but reached for the object with their hands oriented obliquely and at significantly higher heights. The infants also exhibited similar behaviors when touching the photograph and nonpictorial displays. In Experiment 2, 9-month-olds exhibited similar behaviors when touching a photograph of an object and a photograph of textured carpet. The results of both experiments suggest that 9-month-olds treat photographs of objects as 2-dimensional surfaces and not as graspable objects.