What is the term for when an infant searches for a hidden object in a familiar location rather than a new one?

The term that describes when an infant searches for a hidden object in a familiar location instead of a new one is referred to as the "AB error." This concept originates from Piaget's research on cognitive development in infants, specifically in relation to their understanding of object permanence and the ability to track an object's location when it is hidden.

In this context, the AB error occurs when infants demonstrate a reliance on previous experiences with the object, searching in the last place they found it (location A) instead of where it was last hidden (location B). This reflects a developing but incomplete understanding of object permanence, as they seem to lack the ability to integrate new information about the object’s location.

Centration and conservation pertain to different aspects of cognitive development; centration is the tendency to focus on one feature of a situation and ignore others, often seen in younger children. Conservation refers to the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance. Object permanence is the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible, but the term does not specifically describe the search behavior in familiar versus new locations. Thus, the AB error is the most accurate term for this observation in infant development.