Factors associated with spatial reference in a small‐scale space were investigated in three experiments. Subjects were first trained to anticipate an event at one specific location from two different directions of facing. They were then required to locate this event from a novel direction. Both 6‐ and 8‐month infants visually anticipated the whereabouts of the event from the novel direction and displayed persistent visual fixation towards the place where it had previously appeared. For 8‐month infants, successful anticipation was dependent neither on the distinctiveness of landmarks at the event position nor on the angle of their change in direction of facing. It was concluded that, at least for the space in front of the body, young infants are not exclusively limited to a fixed egocentric reference system for determining object or event l