Spatial Competence Research Articles

Children's spatial representation of their neighbourhood: A step towards a general spatial competence

The ability of six-year-old children to combine perspectives of spatial layouts in their own neighbourhood was assessed. The children were asked to imagine themselves as being at a particular reference site and to decide which of two landmarks was closer to the site. From a theoretical point of view, one should not expect six-year-olds to have acquired projective and Euclidian concepts. Nevertheless, the judgements were internally consistent and tended to be veridical. This sensitiveness to relative and absolute accuracy was interpreted as a step towards a general cognitive capacity, governing the representation of spatial relations. Distances to the home were underestimated relative distances to other landmarks. Also estimations from the home tended to be more accurate than estimations from other reference sites. These results suggest that the home acts as a central reference point in children's mental representation of the environment.

An experimental design for assessing the spatial competence of mildly retarded populations.

Abstract The aims of this project are to discover what aspects of a complex large scale external environment (such as a city) retarded individuals are aware of and to determine how those aspects are used (or can be used) in day by day interactions in the city. Specific problems to be investigated include determining: (a) the level of awareness that mildly and moderately mentally retarded populations have of spatial features of the environments in which they live; (b) the type and range of environmental cues used in their commerce with these environments; (c) the completeness and/or complexity of the cognitive representations (mental maps) or such environments; (d) the nature of distortions and disturbances that exist in these cognitive representations and the way that such representations differ from “normal” subject representations; (e) the rates at which the retarded learn to travel in and use their spatial environments; (f) the concepts that could be built into a spatial-environmental competence scale; and (g) the concepts that could be built into a spatial locomotor-ability scale.

Spatial competence, learning disabilities, auditory‐vocal deficits and a WISC‐R subtest recategorization

Abstract Learning disabilities and learning‐to‐read problems now have an extensive history of research behind them. A review of both this research, and that of related fields, was published several years ago (A. Bannatyne 1971). More recent research over the past decade confirms earlier findings and conclusions about the nature of learning and reading disabilities and these are summarized in Diagram I. Because it is not possible, for reasons of space, to review hundreds of research findings in this paper (this has been done elsewhere; A. Bannatyne, 1966b, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978), I will refer to only key researches, summarize relevant conclusions and present an integrated overview of the field.

Developmental Order of Spatial Concepts

A number (240) of Tanzanian schoolchildren, 60 from each of grades 1, 3, 5, 7, were individually tested on conservation of area, conservation of distance, and the concept of horizontality in the coordinate reference system. Responses were categorized on Piagetian stages of spatial competence and on a pass/fail basis. Results of chi-square anlayses showed that, at nearly all grade levels, the developmental sequence is: conservation of distance, conservation of area, and finally mastery of the concept of horizontality in the coordinate reference system. The stagewise progression was observed, but each stage was achieved at a later age as compared to Piaget's norms. It is argued that the acquisition of these concepts in children is a function of the spatial dimensions involved in each concept, and that environmental factors retard the developmental tempo of spatial concepts among the African children.

Left-handedness among architects: some facts and speculation.

Following some leads from casual observations, two studies of left-handedness among architects and architecture students confirmed that: (1) both groups tend to be more left-handed than would be “normally” expected; (2) all the left-handed students followed complex directions about drawing a spatial maze perfectly whereas over 50% of right-handed students erred. Perhaps the data relate to recent speculations about right-hemisphere dominance being associated with both left-handedness and greater spatial competence. How the generalization of these findings and similar questions relate to such study are for future research.