1. The spatial representation of numbers and time follow distinct developmental trajectories: A study in 6- and 10-year-old children
- Author
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Hermann Bulf, Luca Rinaldi, Elena Nava, Viola Macchi Cassia, Nava, E, Rinaldi, L, Bulf, H, and Macchi Cassia, V
- Subjects
Proprioception ,05 social sciences ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,Visual feedback ,Space (commercial competition) ,Frame of reference ,050105 experimental psychology ,Task (project management) ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Mental number line, Mental time line, Development, Vision, Posture ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Spatial representation ,Mental number line ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Cognitive psychology - Abstract
Space-number and space-time associations have been a timely topic in the cognitive sciences for years, but evidence from developmental populations is still scarce. In particular, it remains to be established whether space-number and space-time mappings are anchored onto the same spatial frame of reference across development. To explore this issue, we manipulated visual and proprioceptive feedback in a Number Comparison task (Experiment 1) and a Time Comparison task (Expriment 2), in which 6- and 10-year-old children had to classify numerical and temporal words by means of a lateralised response with or without a blindfold (visual manipulation), and with hands uncrossed or crossed over the body midline (proprioceptive manipulation). Results revealed that 10-year-old children were more efficient in associating smaller numbers and past events with the left key, and larger numbers and future events with the right key, irrespective of the visual and proprioceptive manipulations. On the contrary, younger children did so only in the Time Comparison task, but not in the Number Comparison task. In the latter task, 6-year-olds associated small/large numbers with the left/right side of space only in the presence of visual feedback, but not when blindfolded. Taken together, our findings unveil that in school-aged children the spatial representation of number and time develop on different spatial frames of reference: while space-time associations exclusively rely on external coordinates at age 6, space-number associations shift from mixed internal and external coordinates at age 6 to more adult-like external coordinates by age 10.
- Published
- 2018
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