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8.6.7: Spatial Skills

  • Page ID
    140106
    • Todd LaMarr
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    Development of Spatial Skills

    Spatial skills refer to the cognitive processing of spatial information, which “involves shapes, locations, paths, relations among entities and relations between entities and frames of reference” (Newcombe & Shipley, 2015). Spatial abilities are an important part of cognitive development because early spatial skills are associated with map use (Liben et al., 2013), numerical skills (Zhang, 2016; Cornu et al., 2018; Fanari et al., 2019), math reasoning and knowledge (Casey et al., 2015; Rittle-Johnson et al., 2019), early writing skills (Bourke et al., 2014), motor skills (Jansen & Heil, 2010), and executive functions (Lehmann et al., 2014; Frick and Baumeler, 2017). [1]

    5 small blocks stacked in front of toddler with hand on top and 5th block.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Toddler stacking blocks ([2])

    Spatial thinking often involves mental rotation. Mental rotation refers to the ability to imagine how an object that has been seen from one perspective would look if it were rotated in space into a new orientation and viewed from the new perspective. This ability is crucial even for infants because from soon after birth they are confronted with and must cognitively represent moving and rotating objects in their natural environment. Whether a caregiver or a favorite toy, infants must learn how to recognize people and objects when viewed from different orientations. Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\) provides an example of a test item frequently used to measure mental rotation. At the top is an image of a “same” stimulus in which the object on the right is the same as the object on the left, just rotated. At the bottom is an image of a “different” stimulus, no matter how the image on the left is rotated, it cannot be represented by the image on the right. [3] [4] [5]

    Two image frames each with two three dimensional objects. In the second image frame the second object is rotated 90 degrees.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Example of a mental rotation test item. ([6])

    Several studies have reported mental rotation abilities in infants as young as 3 to 5 months of age with greater abilities in boys than in girls in early infancy (Constantinescu et al., 2018; Johnson & Moore, 2020; Lauer et al., 2015; Quinn & Liben, 2014). As an example, Moore and Johnson (2008) habituated three month old infants to a video of an object, like in Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\), as it rotated around its vertical axis. Then, in test trials, infants saw the same object (just rotated) or a different object (its mirror image). In Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\) image A represents the “back side” of the habituation object seen in Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\) (thus it is the same image, just rotated). In Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\) image B represents the mirror-image of the object seen in image A. The results of the study revealed that only the boys, not the girls, differentiated between the same and the mirror object. Thus, mental rotation is developed already by three months of age, with a gender difference favoring males in the ability to mentally rotate an object in three-dimensional space. [7]

    3 dimensional geometric object, rotated back
    Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): 3 dimensional geometric object. (Copyright; author via source)
    The same 3 dimensional object in two frames, rotated to different views in each.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): 3 dimensional geometric objects. (Copyright; author via source)

    Studies suggest there are various factors that might be important for supporting the early development of mental rotation abilities. Campos et al. (2000) provided evidence that self-produced locomotion, such as crawling, is relevant for infant visual-cognitive ability in general, while other studies have demonstrated a specific association between infant crawling and mental rotation ability (Gerhard-Samunda, Jovanovic & Schwarzer, 2021; Schwarzer et al., 2012). In addition, manual object exploration, such as when infants and toddlers use their hands to manipulate, rotate and transfer objects, might be associated with infant mental rotation ability (Möhring & Frick, 2013; (Soska et al., 2010). These findings demonstrate a relation between mental rotation abilities in infants and toddlers and object and environment exploration. Caregivers can support the development of mental rotation abilities by encouraging infants and toddlers to directly explore objects of various sizes, shapes, colors, etc, with their hands and by supporting the exploration of mobile children. [7]

    Toddler holding up and examining two small wooden blocks in each hand.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Toddler exploring objects with her hands. ([8])

    [1] Yang et al., (2020). Is early spatial skills training effective? A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1938. CC by 4.0

    [2] Image from Ryan Fields on Unsplash

    [3] Johnson & Moore (2020). Spatial thinking in infancy: Origins and development of mental rotation between 3 and 10 months of age. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 5(1), 1-14. CC by 4.0

    [4] Schwarzer et al., (2013). How crawling and manual object exploration are related to the mental rotation abilities of 9-month-old infants. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 97. CC by 4.0

    [5] Ganis & Kievit (2015). A new set of three-dimensional shapes for investigating mental rotation processes: Validation data and stimulus set. Journal of Open Psychology Data, 3(1), e3. CC by 3.0

    [6] Image from Ganis & Kievit (2015). A new set of three-dimensional shapes for investigating mental rotation processes: Validation data and stimulus set. Journal of Open Psychology Data, 3(1), e3. CC by 3.0

    [7] Schwarzer et al., (2013). How crawling and manual object exploration are related to the mental rotation abilities of 9-month-old infants. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 97. CC by 4.0

    [1] Image from Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash


    This page titled 8.6.7: Spatial Skills is shared under a mixed 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Todd LaMarr.