Spatial and numerical abilities without a complete natural language

Late sign language exposure does not modulate the relation between spatial language and spatial memory in deaf children and adults

Prior work with hearing children acquiring a spoken language as their first language shows that spatial language and cognition are related systems and spatial language use predicts spatial memory. Here, we further investigate the extent of this relationship in signing deaf children and adults and ask if late sign language exposure, as well as the frequency and the type of spatial language use that might be affected by late exposure, modulate subsequent memory for spatial relations. To do so, we compared spatial language and memory of 8-year-old late-signing children (after 2 years of exposure to a sign language at the school for the deaf) and late-signing adults to their native-signing counterparts. We elicited picture descriptions of Left-Right relations in Turkish Sign Language (Türk İşaret Dili) and measured the subsequent recognition memory accuracy of the described pictures. Results showed that late-signing adults and children were similar to their native-signing counterparts in how often they encoded the spatial relation. However, late-signing adults but not children differed from their native-signing counterparts in the type of spatial language they used. However, neither late sign language exposure nor the frequency and type of spatial language use modulated spatial memory accuracy. Therefore, even though late language exposure seems to influence the type of spatial language use, this does not predict subsequent memory for spatial relations. We discuss the implications of these findings based on the theories concerning the correspondence between spatial language and cognition as related or rather independent systems.

Preschoolers’ Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language

Reading and interpreting a map represents an essential part of daily life, enabling appropriate orientation and navigation through space. Based on the idea that perceptual analogical reasoning is critical in aligning the spatial structure of the map with the spatial structure of the space and given the critical role of language, especially spatial language, in encoding and establishing spatial relations among elements in the environment, the present study investigated the joint contribution of perceptual analogical reasoning and spatial language in map reading. The study was conducted with 56 typically developing 4- to 6-year-old children, and the results indicated that perceptual abstract reasoning affected map reading through the mediating effect of spatial language. These findings yielded theoretical and practical implications regarding the role of perceptual abstract reasoning and spatial language in shaping map-reading abilities in the early stages of life, highlighting that domain-specific language competencies are necessary to improve the encoding of spatial relations, to establish object correspondences, and to ensure successful navigation. Limitations and future research directions were discussed.

Language, gesture, and judgment: Children's paths to abstract geometry

As infants, children are sensitive to geometry when recognizing objects or navigating through rooms; however, explicit knowledge of geometry develops slowly and may be unstable even in adults. How can geometric concepts be both so accessible and so elusive? To examine how implicit and explicit geometric concepts develop, the current study assessed, in 132 children (3-8 years old) while they played a simple geometric judgment task, three distinctive channels: children's choices during the game as well as the language and gestures they used to justify and accompany their choices. Results showed that, for certain geometric properties, children chose the correct card even if they could not express with words (or gestures) why they had made this choice. Furthermore, other geometric concepts were expressed and supported by gestures prior to their articulation in either choices or speech. These findings reveal that gestures and behavioral choices may reflect implicit knowledge and serve as a foundation for the development of geometric reasoning. Altogether, our results suggest that language alone might not be enough for expressing and organizing geometric concepts and that children pursue multiple paths to overcome its limitations, a finding with potential implications for primary education in mathematics.

The developing role of transparent surfaces in children's spatial representation

Children adeptly use environmental boundaries to navigate. But how do they represent surfaces as boundaries, and how does this change over development? To investigate the effects of boundaries as visual and physical barriers, we tested spatial reorientation in 160 children (2-7 year-olds) in a transparent rectangular arena (Condition 1). In contrast with their consistent success using opaque surfaces (Condition 2), children only succeeded at using transparent surfaces at 5-7 years of age. These results suggest a critical role of visually opaque surfaces in early spatial coding and a developmental change around the age of five in representing locations with respect to transparent surfaces. In application, these findings may inform our usage of windows and glass surfaces in designing and building environments occupied by young children.

Possible Associations between Subitizing, Estimation and Visuospatial Working Memory (VSWM) in Children

Researchers have focused on identifying the mechanisms involved in subitizing and its differences with estimation. Some suggest that subitizing relies on a visual indexing system in charge of the simultaneous individuation of objects that is also used by visuospatial working memory (VSWM). In adults, studies found associations between subitizing and VSWM, in the absence of correlation between VSWM and estimation. The present study analyzed the performance of 120 4 and 6-year-old children in three tasks: dot enumeration to measure subitizing capacity, quantity discrimination for estimation, and Corsi Block-tapping task for VSWM. In the enumeration task RTs (F(9, 1062)=720.59, MSE=734394, p<.001, η2=.86) and errors (F(9, 1062)=42.15, MSE=.194, p<.001, η2=.26.) increased with the array, but this growth was statistically significant only from 4 dots onward. Each subject's subitizing range was estimated by fitting RTs with a sigmoid function of number of dots and obtaining the bend point of the curve. Data fit (age 4: R 2 = .88; SD = .08; age 6: R 2 = .91, SD = .08) showed a mean subitizing range of 2.79 (SD = .66) for 4 year-olds and of 3.11 (SD = .64) for 6 year-olds. Subitizing ranges and average RTs showed low association with storage (r = .274; p < .05; r = -.398; p < .001) and average RTs with concurrent processing (r = -.412; p < .001) in VSWM. Subitizing range and speed showed no association with estimation speed and a poor association with accuracy (r = .234, p < .01; r = -.398, p < .001), which suggests independent systems for small and large quantities. Subitizing and estimation measures correlated with VSWM (p < .01), which suggests that both processes may require VSWM resources.

Aligning grammatical theories and language processing models

We address two important questions about the relationship between theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics. First, do grammatical theories and language processing models describe separate cognitive systems, or are they accounts of different aspects of the same system? We argue that most evidence is consistent with the one-system view. Second, how should we relate grammatical theories and language processing models to each other?

Visuo-spatial ability in individuals with Down syndrome: is it really a strength?

Down syndrome (DS) is associated with extreme difficulty in verbal skills and relatively better visuo-spatial skills. Indeed, visuo-spatial ability is often considered a strength in DS. However, it is not clear whether this strength is only relative to the poor verbal skills, or, more impressively, relative to cognitive ability in general. To answer this question, we conducted an extensive literature review of studies on visuo-spatial abilities in people with Down syndrome from January 1987 to May 2013. Based on a general taxonomy of spatial abilities patterned after Lohman, Pellegrino, Alderton, and Regian (1987) and Carroll (1993) and existing studies of DS, we included five different domains of spatial abilities - visuo-spatial memory, visuo-spatial construction, mental rotation, closure, and wayfinding. We evaluated a total of 49 studies including 127 different comparisons. Most comparisons involved a group with DS vs. a group with typical development matched on mental age and compared on a task measuring one of the five visuo-spatial abilities. Although further research is needed for firm conclusions on some visuo-spatial abilities, there was no evidence that visuo-spatial ability is a strength in DS relative to general cognitive ability. Rather, the review suggests an uneven profile of visuo-spatial abilities in DS in which some abilities are commensurate with general cognitive ability level, and others are below.

Spatial language facilitates spatial cognition: evidence from children who lack language input

Does spatial language influence how people think about space? To address this question, we observed children who did not know a conventional language, and tested their performance on nonlinguistic spatial tasks. We studied deaf children living in Istanbul whose hearing losses prevented them from acquiring speech and whose hearing parents had not exposed them to sign. Lacking a conventional language, the children used gestures, called homesigns, to communicate. In Study 1, we asked whether homesigners used gesture to convey spatial relations, and found that they did not. In Study 2, we tested a new group of homesigners on a Spatial Mapping Task, and found that they performed significantly worse than hearing Turkish children who were matched to the deaf children on another cognitive task. The absence of spatial language thus went hand-in-hand with poor performance on the nonlinguistic spatial task, pointing to the importance of spatial language in thinking about space.