When geometric and non-geometric information are both available for specifying location, men have been shown to rely more heavily on geometry compared to women. To shed insight on the nature and developmental origins of this sex difference, we examined how 18- to 24-month-olds represented the geometry of a surrounding (rectangular) space when…

The ability to locate objects in the environment is adaptively important for mobile organisms. Research on location coding reveals that even toddlers have considerable spatial skill. Important information has been obtained using a disorientation task in which children watch a target object being hidden and are then blindfolded and rotated so they…

The present research examines the ability of children as young as 4 years to use models in tasks that require scaling of distance along a single dimension. In Experiment 1, we found that tasks involving models are similar in difficulty to those involving maps that we studied earlier (Huttenlocher, J., Newcombe, N., & Vasilyeva, M. (1999). Spatial…

Three types of overgeneral uses of object names by young children were identified. Production data from 10 children were obtained using a standardized method of recording utterance contexts. Results showed that, like adults, children's object categories applied to objects of particular kinds. Most overgeneral uses were attributable to…