Which of the following is associated with the sensorimotor stage?

• A. Rooting, sucking, looking, listening, reaching, and grasping
• B. Symbolic thought and pretend play
• C. Object permanence
• D. Abstract reasoning

Answer: (C)

In the sensorimotor stage, learning happens through direct interaction with the world—through senses and motor actions—so infants move from reflexive behaviors to purposeful actions and begin forming internal representations. A defining achievement here is object permanence: the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can't be seen, heard, or touched. This signals that the child is building mental representations rather than relying solely on immediate sensory input.

The listed actions like rooting, sucking, looking, listening, reaching, and grasping are classic sensorimotor behaviors—they are the raw ways infants engage with their environment to learn about it. However, the concept specifically associated with this stage and that indicates internal representation is object permanence. By contrast, symbolic thought and pretend play belong to the next stage, abstract reasoning is far later, and the early reflexive actions are foundational but don’t by themselves signify the major milestone of mental representation represented by object permanence.