Piaget called this stage of cognitive development the sensorimotor stage. In this stage, infants move from reflexes to interacting with the world around them using their ever-growing motor skills. Reaching, rolling, creeping, and crawling are all significant signs of cognitive growth, the sensorimotor stage continues throughout infancy until about the age of 2. Infants that are getting started to use their motor skills and interact with the world around them gives them experience and thought about what the world might be as they get older and grow.
During the first few months of life, infants begin to understand object permanence. Object permanence is the understanding that people, places, or objects still exist even when they are out of sight or can no longer be heard or touched. For example when something or a toy is taken from a child and put somewhere and the parent tells the child that she/he got rid of it the child knows that the toy is still there but hidden. It's like a game of hide and seek to the child.
Editor's note: My parents encouraged my understanding of object permanence by playing peek-a-boo with me, teaching me that behind their hands, their faces would remain, even if I failed to see them. This game continued for quite a few months, until one day, I grabbed at their hands insistently until they parted them, displaying my acknowledgement of their hidden location behind their palms.
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