Piaget and A not B error

After being in this class for two weeks, there are a lot of questions that I have. One of them has to do with Piaget’s theory of the Stage Model. It makes sense that there are different stages of development. (Obviously there is more than one theory, but I will be focusing on the theory posed by Piaget.) This theory can help explain why children can only perform certain actions at certain times in their development. This is the point in which I have questions and comments. First of all, since researchers are dealing with real children in “real” situations it is pretty impossible to talk to a child within the first year of life. However, most of the studies that try and prove Piaget’s theory use infants looking behavior. Someone in class already brought up the idea that maybe babies just look around. The results of this study may have only been proving that babies look around randomly, rather than they look because they are interested. This was an idea that I had thought of as well. I know that these studies have been replicated so that probably is not the case, but it still intrigues me. Are there any other kinds of studies that try and prove Piaget’s theory differently? And if the answer is yes, then what techniques do they use instead of looking behavior? And what if child's looking behavior speaks to something else? It seems logical that young babies will look at something that is new and different. It also seems logical that young babies will look at something longer when it is puzzling or seems impossible. But what about the familiarity aspect of the situation? In prior psychology classes I have learned that there is an idea that people like things that are familiar. For instance: When participants are shown words or faces prior to a “test” (even at fast speeds) they are more likely to choose items that they have seen previously just because they were familiar. So what if this is what babies are doing? Even though this does not seem as logical, it is definitely another hypothesis. Also, if these children are doing experiments, they are probably doing the same task for many different trials. They could be getting more familiar with the experiment, and therefore have a better idea on how to respond.
I would also like to mention a thought about some of the studies that were presented in class. I would like to talk the A not B error. There have been some hypotheses about why young children are susceptible to this error. For example, children could perform the action when the time between hiding and finding was reduced. Also, when the time was extended the children were found to be responding randomly. But why is it that during this “critical time period” we find an A not B error? I am curious to know if this study was replicated across cultures. I wonder if this A not B error has to do with culture. Or I wonder if this has to do with attention span too. I guess I just have a hard time with this error. It just seems bizarre that this occurs, but only when the certain conditions are just right.