Are all spatial perspective taking tasks the same?

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Introduction
Spatial perspective taking refers to the ability to recognize and assess situations at varying points of view. Newcombe and Huttenlocher (1992) developed a new set of perspective taking tasks differing from Piaget’s three mountain problem. They argued that Piaget’s three mountain problem may be difficult for young children due to the task’s set up and instruction rather than egocentrism. There are key differences between Newcombe and Huttenlocher (1992)’s perspective taking task and Piaget’s three mountain problem. First, Newcombe and Huttenlocher required participants to answer questions about object positions when imagining perspective from another observer’s point of view (item questions) whereas Piaget had participants select answers via a series of pictures (picture-selection). Second, Newcombe and Huttenlocher’s item questions were based on relations to proximity while the three mountains task utilized a hypothetical observer and includes hidden objects. No empirical studies have compared these two studies in the same setting. The current study was set to fill this gap to study whether the perspective taking tasks are the same, as it has important implications for evaluating this ability in children.

Methods
56 participants (Mage= 6.5, Range= 4-9) completed a number of spatial abilities tasks and a cognitive assessment as a part of a larger study. In our modified three mountain task, participants observed an array of three cones varying in colors and sizes. They were asked to identify the viewpoint of an imaginary observer from eight viewpoints by selecting an image from four provided choices. The second perspective taking task (Newcombe & Huttenlocher, 1992) required participants to observe an array of four toy dogs (dog task). Stickers were placed on the left and right hand of participants to distinguish left and right sides. Participants were asked to imagine they were each of the toys and determine which toy would be to the left, right, and furthest. Participants also completed the Raven’s Progressive Matrices 2 to measure IQ.

Results
We generated two indices of accuracy percentages taking into account different trial numbers for each task, one using total correct trials and the other also considering left/right confusion. See the two scatter plots (Figures 1 and 2). It is clear that the performance in the dog task is better than three mountain task across both measures. To analyze the relationship between the two tasks a correlation was conducted and was found to be moderately and significantly correlated (r=.40, p=.002). However, after conducting a partial correlation controlling for age, the correlation was no longer significant (r=.02, p=.396). An additional partial correlation controlling for IQ was also not significant (r=.09, p=.092).

Discussion
Overall, the hypothesis that the dog task was easier than the modified three mountains task was supported. Although both tasks are supposed to measure perspective taking, the low correlation could indicate that the three-mountain task could underestimate children’s perspective taking abilities. This would support Newcombe and Huttenlocher (1992)’s idea that task formality (i.e. item selection vs. picture selection) could make a difference in task performance.

Authors

• Dai'jah Diggs, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• Yingying Yang, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Grove, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa Czarnogursky, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pearl Christine McGee, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author