Didn't the experiment partly depend on the age and mobility of the baby?
We used to joke that SMNH had no concept of the visual cliff. When he first started crawling, we could put him on the bed and he'd happily trot off the side except that we'd be holding his ankles to stop him (while saying "visual cliff! Where's your visual cliff???"). But now that he's even more mobile, he seems to have developed the concept and will get to the edge and peer over without proceeding. We still can't leave him on the bed, since he'll sometimes peer a bit too far or not realize that the edge of the bed is behind him and lean back. But at least he doesn't (usually) try to dive right off the edge.
And not having a dog of our own (on purpose), we discovered the game of 'chase the puppy' last weekend at ACNH's cousin's house. The dog is only a bit larger than SMNH, who gleefully chased him around the room. I was both concerned for the chance of S getting bitten and the dog getting his eyes grabbed, but neither happened. Much fun all around. :)
Yeah, Mac totally hasn't gotten the visual cliff yet. I am reminded, though, of something you mentioned a few months ago, in that he is no longer nearly as interested in just sitting quietly in my lap and cuddling or reading. It's Crawl-Crawl-Play! all the time...
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the "visual cliff" experiment
We used to joke that SMNH had no concept of the visual cliff. When he first started crawling, we could put him on the bed and he'd happily trot off the side except that we'd be holding his ankles to stop him (while saying "visual cliff! Where's your visual cliff???"). But now that he's even more mobile, he seems to have developed the concept and will get to the edge and peer over without proceeding. We still can't leave him on the bed, since he'll sometimes peer a bit too far or not realize that the edge of the bed is behind him and lean back. But at least he doesn't (usually) try to dive right off the edge.
And not having a dog of our own (on purpose), we discovered the game of 'chase the puppy' last weekend at ACNH's cousin's house. The dog is only a bit larger than SMNH, who gleefully chased him around the room. I was both concerned for the chance of S getting bitten and the dog getting his eyes grabbed, but neither happened. Much fun all around. :)
-MJNH
Re: the "visual cliff" experiment