The Visual Cliff experiment

The Visual Cliff experiment tested whether infants can perceive depth and understand their environment's safety. Researchers placed a glass-covered drop-off with a patterned surface underneath, creating the illusion of a cliff. Infants who had begun to crawl were encouraged to cross. Many hesitated or refused to go over the "drop," indicating they sensed the depth and understood it as potentially dangerous. This experiment demonstrates that depth perception develops early in infancy, likely influenced by visual cues and crawling experience, helping infants navigate and stay safe in their surroundings.