Children five-to-nine years old can use path integration to build a cognitive map without vision.
Details
Download: CognitivePsychology2020.pdf (1061.90 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: Not specified
State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: Not specified
Serval ID
serval:BIB_2EC021421237
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Children five-to-nine years old can use path integration to build a cognitive map without vision.
Journal
Cognitive psychology
ISSN
1095-5623 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0010-0285
Publication state
Published
Issued date
09/2020
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
121
Pages
101307
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Publication Status: ppublish
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Although spatial navigation competence improves greatly from birth to adulthood, different spatial memory capacities emerge at different ages. Here, we characterized the capacity of 5-9-year-old children to use path integration to build egocentric and allocentric spatial representations to navigate in their environment, and compared their performance with that of young adults. First, blindfolded participants were tested on their ability to return to a starting point after being led on straight and two-legged paths. This egocentric homing task comprising angular and linear displacements allowed us to evaluate path integration capacities in absence of external landmarks. Second, we evaluated whether participants could use path integration, in absence of visual information, to create an allocentric spatial representation to navigate along novel paths between objects, and thus demonstrate the ability to build a cognitive map of their environment. Ninety percent of the 5-9-year-old children could use path integration to create an egocentric representation of their journey to return to a starting point, but they were overall less precise than adults. Sixty-four percent of 5-9-year-old children were capable of using path integration to build a cognitive map enabling them to take shortcuts, and task performance was not dependent on age. Imprecisions in novel paths made by the children who built a cognitive map could be explained by poorer integration of the experienced turns during the learning phase, as well as greater individual variability. In sum, these findings demonstrate that 5-9-year-old children can use path integration to build a cognitive map in absence of visual information.
Keywords
Blindness/psychology, Child, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Space Perception, Spatial Memory, Spatial Navigation, Allocentric, Cognitive map, Development, Egocentric, Homing behavior, Precision, Spatial resolution
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
10/06/2020 22:59
Last modification date
22/06/2023 7:09