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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2009.12.003 Byline: Stacie L. Crawley, Nora S. Newcombe, Hannah Bingman Keywords: Source monitoring; Children's memory; Encoding focus; Emotional processing; Cognitive development; Source memory Abstract: Retention of source information is enhanced by focus on speakers' feelings about statements even though recognition is reduced for both adults and children. However, does any focus on another person lead to enhanced source monitoring, or is a particular kind of focus required? Does other-focus enhance source monitoring, or does self-focus detract from it? In Experiment 1, 4- and 6-year-olds watched two speakers make statements in a no-focus control or with focus directed on how they (or a speaker) felt about the statements or on perceptual features about themselves (or the speaker). Source monitoring decisions were enhanced by other-focus in both the perceptual and emotional conditions. However, the effect was larger for the emotional condition, and source monitoring exceeded no-focus controls only for this condition. Experiment 2 showed no effect of other-focus versus self-focus on source monitoring when questions were semantic. Author Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA Article History: Received 2 July 2008; Revised 3 December 2009

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.06.002 Byline: Kristin R. Ratliff, Nora S. Newcombe Keywords: Spatial cognition; Navigation; Modularity; Orientation; Development Abstract: Being able to reorient to the spatial environment after disorientation is a basic adaptive challenge. There is clear evidence that reorientation uses geometric information about the shape of the surrounding space. However, there has been controversy concerning whether use of geometry is a modular function, and whether use of features is dependent on human language. A key argument for the role of language comes from shadowing findings where adults engaged in a linguistic task during reorientation ignored a colored wall feature and only used geometric information to reorient [Hermer-Vazquez, L., Spelke, E., & Katsnelson, A. (1999). Sources of flexibility in human cognition: Dual task studies of space and language. Cognitive Psychology, 39, 3-36]. We report three studies showing: (a) that the results of Hermer-Vazques et al. [Hermer-Vazquez, L., Spelke, E., & Katsnelson, A. (1999). Sources of flexibility in human cognition: Dual task studies of space and language. Cognitive Psychology, 39, 3-36] are obtained in incidental learning but not with explicit instructions, (b) that a spatial task impedes use of features at least as much as a verbal shadowing task, and (c) that neither secondary task impedes use of features in a room larger than that used by Hermer-Vazquez et al. These results suggest that language is not necessary for successful use of features in reorientation. In fact, whether or not there is an encapsulated geometric module is currently unsettled. The current findings support an alternative to modularity; the adaptive combination view hypothesizes that geometric and featural information are utilized in varying degrees, dependent upon the certainty and variance with which the two kinds of information are encoded, along with their salience and perceived usefulness. Author Affiliation: Temple University, 1701 N. 13th Street, Weiss Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6085, USA Article History: Accepted 21 June 2007 Article Note: (footnote) [star] Portions of this research were presented at the Psychonomic Society 2004 and at the Cognitive Science Society 2005. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (BCS0414302).

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2005.06.006 Byline: Stacie L. Kovacs, Nora S. Newcombe Keywords: Source monitoring; Binding processes; Theory of mind Abstract: Adults' source judgments are more accurate when they focus on speakers' emotions than when adults focus on their own emotions. Focusing on speakers may lead to better source memory because it encourages processing of the perceptual characteristics of the source and binding of that information to the content of what is being said. The purpose of the current work was to evaluate whether young children's source memory similarly benefits from this outward encoding focus and whether this effect changes developmentally. In Experiment 1, when 4- and 5-year-olds heard an audiotape of two dissimilar speakers, only the 5-year-olds showed better source memory when asked to adopt an other-focus. In Experiment 2, when 4- and 5-year-olds watched a videotape of two similar speakers, the same pattern was found. However, in Experiment 3, when 4-year-olds watched a videotape of two dissimilar speakers (a more optimal encoding condition in which 5-year-olds showed ceiling performance), 4-year-olds benefited from taking an other-focus during encoding. Overall, the data suggest that the benefit for source memory of focusing on another person develops over the preschool years. Author Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA Article History: Received 25 February 2005; Revised 15 June 2005

This article examines toddlers' spatial behavior. The authors, analyzing the results of several experiments, maintain disoriented children under the age of 2 use landmarks and geometric information to locate objects.

Episodic memory undergoes dramatic improvement in early childhood; the reason for this is poorly understood. In adults, episodic memory relies on a distributed neural network. Key brain regions that supporting these processes include the hippocampus, portions of the parietal cortex, and portions of prefrontal cortex, each of which shows different developmental profiles. Here we asked whether developmental differences in the axonal pathways connecting these regions may account for the robust gains in episodic memory in young children. Using diffusion weighted imaging, we examined whether white matter connectivity between brain regions implicated in episodic memory differed with age, and were associated with memory performance differences in 4- and 6-year-old children. Results revealed that white matter connecting the hippocampus to the inferior parietal lobule significantly predicted children’s performance on episodic memory tasks. In contrast, variation in the white matter connecting the hippocampus to the medial prefrontal cortex did not relate to memory performance. These findings suggest that structural connectivity between the hippocampus and lateral parietal regions is relevant to the development of episodic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Experiences with spatial toys such as blocks, puzzles, and shape games, and the spatial words and gestures they evoke from adults, have a significant influence on the early development of spatial skills. Spatial skills are important for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields [77] (e.g., Wai, Lubinski, Benbow and Steiger, 2010), and are related to early mathematics performance [48] (Mix and Cheng, 2012), as early as age 3 [73] (Verdine, Golinkoff et al., in press). This paper focuses on the effects of early spatial experiences and their impacts on school readiness, discusses factors that influence the amount and quality of spatial play, and suggests methods for providing a “spatial education” prior to school entry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Spatial scaling is an integral aspect of many spatial tasks that involve symbol-to-referent correspondences (e.g., map reading, drawing). In this study, we asked 3–6-year-olds and adults to locate objects in a two-dimensional spatial layout using information from a second spatial representation (map). We examined how scaling factor and reference features, such as the shape of the layout or the presence of landmarks, affect performance. Results showed that spatial scaling on this simple task undergoes considerable development, especially between 3 and 5 years of age. Furthermore, the youngest children showed large individual variability and profited from landmark information. Accuracy differed between scaled and un-scaled items, but not between items using different scaling factors (1:2 vs. 1:4), suggesting that participants encoded relative rather than absolute distances. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A recent paper by Dehaene, Izard, Pica and Spelke examined geometric concepts among the Munduruku, an Amazonian group without many linguistic terms for spatial relations, and without maps or formal schooling. Their profile of strengths and weaknesses provides new insights into the nature of the human mind and the importance of culture and language to the development of thought. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Humans and animals use mental representations of the spatial structure of the world to navigate. The classical view is that these representations take the form of Euclidean cognitive maps, but alternative theories suggest that they are cognitive graphs consisting of locations connected by paths. We review evidence suggesting that both map-like and graph-like representations exist in the mind/brain that rely on partially overlapping neural systems. Maps and graphs can operate simultaneously or separately, and they may be applied to both spatial and nonspatial knowledge. By providing structural frameworks for complex information, cognitive maps and cognitive graphs may provide fundamental organizing schemata that allow us to navigate in physical, social, and conceptual spaces. Spatial navigation has been suggested to rely either on Euclidean cognitive maps or on graph-like representations of routes between locations. Instead of being competing hypotheses, cognitive maps and cognitive graphs may coexist in the same individuals, with their availability and use depending on environmental characteristics and navigational demands. Cognitive maps and cognitive graphs are instantiated by partially distinct but partially overlapping neural systems in the hippocampal formation, frontal lobes, and scene-selective cortical regions. Both representational systems can likely support abstract thought; Euclidean maps are suited for representing content varying along continuous dimensions, whereas cognitive graphs are suited for representing state transitions and discrete associations between items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the role of spatial scaling and proportional-reasoning skills in children’s number-line estimations. Proportional strategies in number-line estimations might suggest that correlations between number-line knowledge and scaling are driven by proportional thinking. However, analyses of data on spatial scaling, proportional reasoning, counting skills, and number-line knowledge from 5- to 7-year-old children ( N  = 65) showed significant correlations between spatial-scaling performance and number-line knowledge, even after age, counting skills, common method variance, and proportional reasoning were accounted for. Thus, spatial scaling is related to variance in number-line estimations due to mechanisms beyond proportional reasoning. The ability to mentally transform magnitudes may be the additional common underlying process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental representation and transformation of spatial information is often examined with mental rotation (MR) tasks, which require deciding whether a rotated image is the same as or the mirror version of an upright image. Recent research with infants shows early discrimination of objects from mirror-image versions. However, even at the age of 4 years, many children perform at near chance level on more standard measures. Similar age discrepancies can be observed in other domains, including perspective taking, theory of mind, and intuitive physics. These paradoxical results raise the questions of how performance relates to competence and how to conceptualize developmental change. There may be a common underlying mechanism: the development of the ability to imagine things and mentally transform them in a prospective fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We assessed 3- to 5-year-olds’ mental rotation abilities using a puzzle paradigm. [•] Pairs of asymmetrical ghost figures were presented in seven different orientations. [•] Children were asked to pick the ghost that would fit into a hole. [•] Results indicate considerable development between 3 and 5 years of age. [•] This new paradigm allows for assessing mental rotation abilities below age 5. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

During early ontogeny, the rapid and cumulative acquisition of world knowledge contrasts with slower improvements in the ability to lay down detailed and long-lasting episodic memories. This emphasis on generalization at the expense of specificity persists well into middle childhood and possibly into adolescence. During this period, recognizing regularities, forming stable representations of recurring episodes, predicting the structure of future events, and building up semantic knowledge may be prioritized over remembering specific episodes. We highlight recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggesting that maturational differences among subfields within the hippocampus contribute to the developmental lead–lag relation between generalization and specificity, and lay out future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even infants can recognize physically impossible patterns of motion, seem to expect correct trajectories, and as they develop motor skills, move as necessary to achieve a goal. Yet in adulthood, the majority of people perform poorly when asked to make explicit predictions about motion in the same problems, and are influenced by irrelevant surface features. To characterize the changes that occur during development and the nature of individual differences, we developed a new assessment of force and motion that is age appropriate for both 6-year-old children and adults. Participants at both ages were generally able to reason at above-chance levels about motion in one dimension, although adults showed superior performance. On problems involving motion in two dimensions, adult males did better than boys, but adult females were equivalent to girls. These data provide the basis for a reinvigorated investigation of the factors supporting the development of the ability to think about force and motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hippocampal patterns were more dissimilar for related versus unrelated movie clips. • Hippocampal dissimilarity for related clips were equivalent across children and adults. • Content familiarity biased hippocampal dissimilarity in children but not adults. The ability to detect differences among similar events in our lives is a crucial aspect of successful episodic memory performance, which develops across early childhood. The neural substrate of this ability is supported by operations in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Here, we used representational similarity analysis (RSA) to measure neural pattern similarity in hippocampus, perirhinal cortex, and parahippocampal cortex for 4- to 10-year-old children and adults during naturalistic viewing of clips from the same compared to different movies. Further, we assessed the role of prior exposure to individual movie clips on pattern similarity in the MTL. In both age groups, neural pattern similarity in hippocampus was lower for clips drawn from the same movies compared to those drawn from different movies, suggesting that related content activates processes focused on keeping representations with shared content distinct. However, children showed this only for movies with which they had prior exposures, whereas adults showed the effect regardless of any prior exposures to the movies. These findings suggest that children require repeated exposure to stimuli to show adult-like MTL functioning in distinguishing among similar events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]