Which stage of cognitive development includes learning object permanence?

The development of object permanence is a critical milestone occurring during the Sensorimotor Stage of cognitive development, which spans from birth to approximately two years of age. During this stage, infants learn to understand that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. This realization signifies a major advancement in their cognitive abilities, indicating that they are beginning to form mental representations of the world around them.

In the Sensorimotor Stage, children actively explore their environment and engage in various physical interactions with objects. Through these experiences, they gradually learn that these objects maintain their existence out of sight, paving the way for more complex forms of thinking and reasoning in later stages of cognitive development.

The other stages, such as the Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, and Formal Operational Stage, focus on different aspects and abilities of cognitive growth that occur subsequently and do not specifically involve the development of object permanence.