Spatial analysis: An examination of preschoolers' perception and construction of geometric patterns.

An extensive series of construction-based studies have shown that children as young as 3 yrs of age engage in active spatial analytic processing and that the character of this analysis changes with development. The present study was intended to demonstrate that this kind of analysis is not limited to situations that require reproduction. Children 3.5–5 yrs of age were asked to judge which of several possible sets of parts matched a configured target form. They were also asked to copy the target forms. Comparison of performance on the 2 tasks demonstrated that the same developmental trends seen in the copying task were exhibited in the perceptual judgment task. This was true for both simple linear and more varied forms. Thus, this task provides important converging evidence that in perceptual judgment as well as construction tasks children engage in active analysis of the visual display. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial pattern learning in rats: Control by an iterative pattern.

Rats searched in a matrix of vertical poles for food hidden on top of the poles. The only information available about the location of the food was the consistent spatial pattern of the baited poles, which was a checkerboard. This spatial pattern of hidden-food locations came to control the choices of poles made by the rats. The experiments ruled out the possibility that this control can be explained by the acquisition of simple response tendencies to move from pole to pole. Instead, this behavioral control of choices was attributed to the development of a representation of the checkerboard pattern of baited locations. Spatial pattern learning may have mechanisms in common with other forms of pattern learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Connecting the dots: Children's use of a systematic figure to facilitate mapping and search.

Organizing locations into a systematic figure was predicted to facilitate children's use of spatial relations in a mapping task. In Study 1, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds used a map to find a sticker hidden under 1 of 27 locations. The search locations formed a systematic figure, the outline of a dog. Half of the children were shown that the locations formed a dog. Seeing the dog pattern facilitated the performance of 5-year-olds but not that of the younger children. Study 2 indicated that children had to see a systematic figure to gain an advantage; adding lines to an unsystematic figure did not convey an advantage. Study 3 indicated that a verbal label alone could not convey an advantage. Study 4 revealed that seeing the dog pattern could also facilitate performance when the map was rotated relative to the represented space. The importance of organizing spatial information to facilitate relational thinking and mapping is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental trends in visuospatial analysis and planning: I. Copying a complex figure.

An existing scoring system was used to assess the accuracy of the children's ability to copy the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure. The authors also developed additional measures to more precisely describe the process used by children in copying this figure. The findings suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 9 break the figure up into simple components but improve in their ability to integrate the figure with age. Younger children demonstrated a similar pattern of performance when copying the main features of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure in isolation. The results of this study suggest that when faced with tasks requiring more advanced types of spatial analysis, children adopt strategies that proved successful when they were younger. Children have a variety of spatial analytic strategies available by age 6, but the strategy that they use is a function of pattern complexity and the capabilities of the child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rule replacement in the development of basic number skills.

Examined replacement of simple rules by more complex variants in situations where 485 3–8.5 yr old children were confronted with tasks differing in rule application requirements. It was hypothesized that counting with and without objects would be equivalent tasks, that counting all would be subordinate to counting on, that counting on would be subordinate to counting down, and that counting on and counting down would be subordinate to counting by multiples. The restrictive knowledge perspective was compared to models congruent with the transition perspective assuming the existence of partial knowledge states. Latent-class models were used to test equivalence and ordered relations among the tasks. The results provide evidence that the development of counting skills is an evolving process in which parts of a relatively simple rule are replaced by features that enable the child to perform an increasingly broad range of counting tasks. The results also suggest that rule replacement in counting plays an important role in the development of other math skills. Support was also found for the restrictive knowledge perspective, lending credence to the stair-step learning theory. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body partonomy: How children partition the human body.

Concepts of 7 body parts and their relationships were assessed among 94 Ss from 4 age groups (3, 4, and 5 yrs and undergraduates) and 10 additional adults. The youngest Ss tended to assume that each familiarly labeled part was distinctly identified and unrelated to other labeled parts, and they exhibited peculiarly underextended conceptions of the body and face. This tendency is similar to J. Anglin's (1977) report that children are less likely to include familiarly named objects in superordinate categories. Older Ss recognized "parts of" relations at all levels of the hierarchy, but tended to have greater difficulty with nonimmediate relations between parts of parts of parts. Discussion focuses on differences between classificatory, collective, and partonomic hierarchies. It is suggested that the development of partonomic concepts is less a product of inherent conceptual complexity and more a product of experience and perceptual boundaries. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological reality of the body schema: A test with normal participants.

Neuropsychological dissociations suggest the existence of a body schema, a representation of the spatial relations among body parts, not used for other spatial stimuli. Four experiments verify the psychological reality of the body schema in normal participants. In Experiments 1 and 2, proprioceptive information concerning one's own body position influences visual perception of others' body positions. Contrary to expectations, facilitation is observed rather than interference in the dual-performance task. Experiment 3 eliminates the possibility that the effect is due to a particular mnemonic strategy. In Experiment 4, this effect is shown to be specific to the perception of bodies, as opposed to other complex 3-dimensional forms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embryonic development of the Drosophila brain. I. Pattern of pioneer tracts

The neuropile of the late embryonic Drosophila brain can be subdivided into a vertical component (cervical connective), a transverse component (supraesophageal commissure), and a horizontal component for which we propose the term protocerebral connective. The core of each neuropile component is formed by numerous axon fascicles, the trajectory of which follows an invariant pattern. In the present study we have used an antibody against the adhesion molecule Fasciclin II (FasII) that is expressed in a large number of early differentiating neurons of the Drosophila embryo to follow the development of the axon tracts of the brain. The FasII antigen appears on the surface of clusters of neuronal somata prior to axon outgrowth. These clusters, for which we propose the term fibre tract founder clusters, are laid out in a linear pattern that forms an almost uninterrupted longitudinal track reaching from the ventral nerve cord to the "tip" of the brain. After expressing FasII on their soma, neurons of the fibre tract founder clusters extend axons that grow along the surface of the founder clusters and form a simple system of pioneer tracts for each of the components of the brain neuropile. We have reconstructed the FasII-positive fibre tract founder clusters and their axons from optical sections and generated digital 3-D models that illustrate the spatial relationships of the pioneer tracts. Three fibre tract founder clusters, D/T, P1, and P3m, pioneer the cervical connective. P21 and P2m form a transverse track that pioneers the supraesophageal commissure. P4m and P41/P51/VP5m form two tracts that pioneer a medial and a lateral component of the protocerebral connective, respectively. Because FasII expression continues uninterruptedly into the larval period when the "rudiments" of many parts of the adult neuropile are readily identifiable, it was possible to assign several of the embryonic pioneer tracts to definitive neuropile components, including the median bundle, antennocerebral tract, mushroom body, and posterior optic tract.     

Spatial Tapping Interferes With the Processing of Linguistic Spatial Relations.

Simple spatial relations may be represented either in a prepositional format that is dependent on verbal rehearsal or in a picture-like format that is maintained by visual-spatial rehearsal. In sentence-picture and picture-picture verification tasks, we examined the effect of an articulatory suppression and a spatial tapping dual task on the encoding of simple spatial relations (e.g., triangle left of circle). Articulatory suppression did not interfere, while spatial tapping lowered performance in both tasks. Apparently, both linguistic and perceptual inputs of simple spatial relations engaged the visual-spatial working memory. In the sentence-picture verification experiments, spatial tapping only hampered performance of participants who were classified on the basis of their RT patterns as having used a visual-spatial strategy, while it had no effect for those who were classified as having applied a verbal strategy. Therefore, this study provides converging evidence, using a dual-task methodology, that both separate verbal and visual-spatial strategies exist for the processing of simple spatial sentences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Independent representation of parts and the relations between them: Evidence from integrative agnosia.

Whether objects are represented as a collection of parts whose relations are coded independently remains a topic of ongoing discussion among theorists in the domain of shape perception. S. M., an individual with integrative agnosia, and neurologically intact ("normal") individuals learned initially to identify 4 target objects constructed of 2 simple volumetric parts. At test, the targets were mixed with distractors, some of which could be discriminated from the targets on the basis of a mismatching part, whereas the rest could be discriminated only on the basis of the altered spatial arrangements of parts. S. M. learned to identify the target objects, although at a rate slower than that of the normal participants. At test, he correctly rejected distractors on the basis of mismatching parts but was profoundly impaired at rejecting distractors made of the same local components but with mismatching spatial arrangements. These results suggest that encoding the spatial arrangements of parts of an object requires a mechanism that is different from that required for encoding the shape of individual parts, with the former selectively compromised in integrative agnosia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental differentiation and familiarity as determinants of children's memory for spatial location.

The degree to which 2 environmental variables, familiarity and differentiation, affect the ability of children to recall the spatial location of an event was assessed in 3 experiments with a total of 72 3-5 yr old preschoolers and 16 7-8 yr olds. In each study Ss were taken individually on strolls through a variety of environments, were exposed to an event, and later were asked to recall where that event had occurred. This procedure was followed on 1 occasion without the S's foreknowledge that such a request would be made, and on a 2nd occasion with foreknowledge of the S. Differentiation and foreknowledge both had a significant effect on the ability of preschool Ss to perform in this task, but familiarity did not. 8-yr-olds were significantly more accurate than preschoolers in an undifferentiated environment but not in a differentiated environment. Results support Piaget's theory that the development of spatial representation proceeds from dependence on topological spatial relations to incorporation of projective and Euclidean concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Important role for angiotensin III and IV in the brain renin-angiotensin system

Children taught to sequence pairs of visual stimuli also performed additional sequences without direct training. In Experiment 1, the children were trained to produce a six-stimulus sequence (A > B > C > D > E > F) with one set of forms, and five overlapping two-stimulus sequences (A > B, B > C, C > D, D > E, and E > F) with another set of forms. Few of the children succeeded on tests for the untrained two- (e.g., B > D and B > E) and six-stimulus sequences derivable from the two-stimulus training. The children in Experiments 2 and 3 received only the overlapping sequence training before testing with refined protocols: Nearly all succeeded on tests of emergent sequences involving two, three, four, five, and six stimuli. The results suggest methods for examining transitive relations between pairs of the stimuli used in training and the development of a relation of order among all six of the stimuli involved.     

Developmental change in young children's spatial grouping activity.

The aim of this study was to provide the kinds of detailed data necessary for formulating and eventually testing hypotheses about the conceptual bases of spatial behavior for children 1 to 4 years of age. Forty children between 18 and 42 months of age were tested on four spontaneous block construction tasks. A set of six measures was used to analyze both the products and the process of spatial grouping. The measures included: a categorical analysis of overall configuration of spatial groupings, number of spatial loci or points of origin in a construction, number of directions in which a construction extended in space, types of spatial relations generated, number of different kinds of relations in a construction, and the process of construction. The results confirm and elaborate previously established developmental findings for each measure. Moreover, comparison and integration of data across the set of measures yielded both distinctive profiles of spatial grouping activity at 18 and 42 months and evidence of systematic developmental change between these ages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syntactic priming in 3- and 4-year-old children: Evidence for abstract representations of transitive and dative forms.

The current studies used a syntactic priming paradigm with 3- and 4-year-old children. In Experiment 1, children were asked to describe a series of drawings depicting transitive and dative relations to establish baseline production levels. In Experiment 2, an experimenter described a similar series of drawings using one of two syntactic forms (i.e., active/passive for transitive; double-object/prepositional for dative). Children were then asked to describe pictures identical to those shown in the corresponding baseline procedure. In both transitive and dative conditions, 4-year-old children were more likely to use a particular syntactic form if it had been used by the experimenter. Three-year-old children did not show priming effects, but their production of transitive sentences was higher following transitive primes than in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, an additional group of 3-year-olds participated in a procedure in which they repeated the experimenter's sentences before describing the pictures. This procedure yielded significant priming effects for transitive and dative forms. These results indicate that very young children possess abstract syntactic representations, but that their access to these representations is sensitive to task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual organization and intentionality in adults' spatial memory.

Examines the effects of intentionality and attention to contextual organization in spatial memory. Middle-aged and older women were asked either to study the placement of objects in a contextually organized panorama or to engage in incidental orienting activities, which gave them exposure to the array without awareness that subsequent reconstruction would be required. The incidental conditions required differing degrees of attention to contextual spatial relations. The pattern of results was similar for both age groups. Although some spatial location information was remembered without intention, even when subjects were not required to attend to spatial relations in the array, reconstruction was enhanced by intentionality or by the goal-relevant activity of attending to contextual spatial relations. Orienting activities involving attention to contextual spatial organization or relations between items produced better reconstruction than orienting activities requiring attention only to individual items. In fact, the incidental conditions requiring attention to spatial relations produced performance equal to that in the intentional condition. Although intentionality was not necessary for good reconstruction on a contextually organized task, attention to relations between items was necessary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal integration in face perception: Evidence of configural processing of temporally separated face parts.

Temporal integration is the process by which temporally separated visual components are combined into a unified representation. Although this process has been studied in object recognition, little is known about temporal integration in face perception and recognition. In the present study, the authors investigated the characteristics and time boundaries of facial temporal integration. Whole faces of nonfamous and famous people were segmented horizontally into 3 parts and presented in sequence, with varying interval lengths between parts. Inversion and misalignment effects were found at short intervals (0-200 ms). Moreover, their magnitude was comparable to those found with whole-face presentations. These effects were eliminated, or substantially reduced, when the delay interval was 700 ms. Order of parts presentation did not influence the pattern of inversion effects obtained within each temporal delay condition. These results demonstrate that temporal integration of faces occurs in a temporary and limited visual buffer. Moreover, they indicate that only integrated faces can undergo configural processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processes of social learning in the tool use of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens).

Common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and 2-yr-old human children (Homo sapiens) were presented with a rakelike tool and a desirable but out-of-reach object. One group of Ss observed a human demonstrator use the tool in one way, and another group observed a demonstrator use the tool in another way. Children in both cases did what the model did. Chimpanzee Ss, however, behaved identically in the 2 model conditions. Both groups performed better than Ss who saw no demonstration. This pattern of results suggests that the chimpanzees were paying attention to the general functional relations in the task and to the results obtained by the demonstrator but not to the actual methods of tool use demonstrated. Human children were focused on the demonstrator's actual methods of tool use (i.e., her behavior). The different social learning processes used by the 2 species have implications for their different forms of social organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing links between childhood positive peer relations and externalizing outcomes through a randomized controlled intervention study.

In this study, the authors used a randomized controlled trial to explore the link between having positive peer relations and externalizing outcomes in 758 children followed from kindergarten to the end of 2nd grade. Children were randomly assigned to the Good Behavior Game (GBG), a universal classroom-based preventive intervention, or a control condition. Children’s acceptance by peers, their number of mutual friends, and their proximity to others were assessed annually through peer ratings. Externalizing behavior was annually rated by teachers. Reductions in children’s externalizing behavior and improvements in positive peer relations were found among GBG children, as compared with control-group children. Reductions in externalizing behavior appeared to be partly mediated by the improvements in peer acceptance. This mediating role of peer acceptance was found for boys only. The results suggest that positive peer relations are not just markers, but they are environmental mediators of boys’ externalizing behavior development. Implications for research and prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)