Problem Mapping before Problem Solving: Young Children's Cognitive Maps and Search Strategies in Large-Scale Environments

Abstract

ANOOSHIAN, LINDA J.; PASCAL, VERONICA U.; and MCCREATH, HEATHER. Problem Mapping before Problem Solving: Young Children's Cognitive Maps and Search Strategies in Large-Scale Environments. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1820-1834. 2 studies examined both search strategies and spatial representations of preschool children. Results confirmed that only the children who represented routes in cognitive maps were likely to make a logical inference that a missing object might be found somewhere between the last place it was used and the first place it was discovered missing. For both studies, the results indicated that measures of spatial representation were more closely related to age than the length of time children had attended the school where the testing was completed. The results obtained from route-knowledge tasks administered in Study 2 also confirmed the hypothesized order of acquisition-landmark before route-order before route-scaling knowledge. Furthermore, Study 2 indicated that internal representations beyond the level of landmark representation may be necessary for efficient comprehensive searches-that is, searching in locations that had not already been searched, independent of temporal sequence. These results and others suggested that the acquisition of route mapping during the preschool years provides not only a means of organizing spatial information but also the kind of organized internal representations that may be required for successful problem solving in general.