Thinking Out Loud: Children's Language Use During a Spatial Pattern Task

• In Event: 2-139 - Spatial Symbols and Spatial Thought: How Language and Maps Shape the Development of Spatial Thinking

Integrative Statement

Spatial thinking requires the processing of both intrinsic and extrinsic object properties (Newcombe & Shipley, 2015; Uttal et al., 2013), and spatial patterns offer a unique way to examine the interaction between these properties. A spatial pattern is a configuration in which the whole forms something more meaningful than the individual elements (Uttal & Chiong, 2004). To accurately recall a spatial pattern, one must encode both intrinsic object properties (e.g., “the orange triangle”) as well as extrinsic object properties (e.g., “the orange triangle is above the red rectangle”). The goal of the present study was to examine the relation between children’s labeling of intrinsic object properties and their memory for a spatial pattern.

In a pre-registered study, fifty-seven children (Mage = 7.33 years, SD = 1.06) were asked to narrate while they constructed a spatial pattern (see Figure 1). Children were then asked to reconstruct the pattern from memory. We coded children’s spontaneous references to the colors and shapes of the pieces of the spatial pattern. Color words used in isolation (“blue” versus “blue square”) predicted higher accuracy for the colors of the pieces (b = -.13, p = .02), whereas shape words predicted higher accuracy for the overall configuration of the pattern (b = .16, p = .02). Additionally, the more children labeled the shapes of the pieces, the lower their accuracy for the colors of the pattern (b = .13, p = .02). Children’s use of location words (e.g., “beside”, “above”) did not predict accuracy nor did the total number of words children produced. These results suggest that color words may improve children’s memory for this feature of an object, whereas shape words may improve children’s memory for the relationships among objects.

To test this hypothesis, we are conducting an experimental study in which we manipulate children’s exposure to shape or color words before they construct the spatial pattern. In this pre-registered study, five to eight-year-olds are randomly assigned to one of four conditions: a shape-only condition in which we label the shapes of the pieces, a color-only condition in which we label the colors of the pieces, a shape-and-color condition in which we label both the shapes and colors of the pieces, and a control condition in which we point to each piece. Children then reconstruct the pattern from memory. We hypothesize that children in the color-only condition will show enhanced memory for the colors of the pattern, while children in the shape-only condition will show enhanced memory for the overall configuration of the pattern. Together these studies shed light on the differential impact of two intrinsic object properties, shape and color, on children’s encoding of a spatial pattern.

Authors

• Ashley Ransom, Cornell University
  Presenting Author

• Marianella Casasola, Cornell University
  Non-Presenting Author