Can a child in the sensorimotor stage judge speed?

• A. Yes
• B. No
• C. Sometimes
• D. Not enough information

Answer: (B)

In the sensorimotor stage, children learn about the world through direct senses and their own actions, gradually coordinating movement with perception but not yet forming mental representations of objects or predicting future events. Judging speed requires perceiving motion over time, comparing velocities, and predicting where something will go next—abilities that depend on representational thought that develops in later stages. While infants can track moving objects in the moment, they don’t reliably judge how fast something is moving as a concept. So, the correct understanding is that a child in this stage cannot judge speed.