Abstract: The goal of the present study was to explore the developmental mechanism of object permanence during infancy by means of examining crawling effect on the development of object permanence and its developmental trend under Chinese ecological environment There were 208 subjects aged from 8 to 11-month -old. In this study, object permanence was assessed by spatial search test, and infant crawling status was assessed by locomotion assessment and maternal interview questionnaire. Results indicated: ( 1 ) Compared with crawling effect on object permanence in American infants, crawling status was not related to Chinese infant performance on object permanence. It supported the hypothesis that crawling effect on object permanence resulted from crawling experience, not crawling action itself (2) For Chinese infants, the developmental level of object permanence also improved with age. It illustrated that there were other channels for infants to acquire object permanence besides crawling. (3) At the age of 8 to 11-month, infants arrived at the developmental level of Stage Ⅳ on object permanence. There was a significant change on infant developmental level of object permanence at the age of 9-month.

Key words: infant, object permanence, crawling, developmental mechanism