英语翻译When slightly older babies were shown cards with picture

英语翻译
When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects（a comb,a key,an orange and so on）,changing the number of objects【 had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves】.
【】里的separate from 是动词短语吗?我觉得好像不是,因为有谓语had了,这里是have sth.do的表达吗?还是be separate from 的省略.并解释separate from在此如何翻译?