Patients with traumatic brain injury show clear impairments in behavioural flexibility and inhibition that often persist beyond the time of injury, affecting independent living and psychosocial functioning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that patients with traumatic brain injury typically show increased and more broadly…

In our prior study the negative correlation between Topology, a behavioral measure of fluid reasoning, and adult age diminished with the increase in the level of expertise in a cognitively-demanding domain of expertise in the game of GO. The present fMRI study was designed to investigate neural substrates of Topology. The modified topology…

A test was designed to measure whether or not the child's conceptualization of space would demand that two topological properties of figures (connectedness, and openness and closedness) remain invariant when the figures were subjected to transformations. Ninety children, 30 from each of ages four, six, and eight, were tested. Six items were given…

Reported are studies which investigate children's understandings of concepts of symmetry and topology, area measure, limit and function, and logical inference. In each case, the mathematical concepts are analyzed in terms of their conceptual foundations. Tasks were created or adapted for testing the subconcepts at appropriate grade levels from K…

The author takes exception to Piaget and Inhelder's conclusion that a child's first conceptualization of space is topological. (JP)

The mathematical solution to a Piagetian experiment involving topological concepts reported in a recent book is labeled as a sham. The correct solution is given and discussed. (MP)

Research designed to determine whether the phenomena observed by Piaget were task specific was performed. The results did not confirm Piaget's notion that topological concepts develop prior to the concepts of Euclidean geometry. (SD)

The objective of the investigation was to develop and test procedures for training children in coordination of projective space. (Projective concepts involve apparent distance, relative position, shape of figures, and other topological factors. A person with a command of projective space sees objects as a coordinated system of figures in space.) A…

Examines the attainment of Piagetian topological concepts in 100 kindergarten to second graders. Findings reveal a hierarchial pattern of attainment, but one that differs from Piaget's research. Significant differences are found for task performance and grade level but not for task performance and gender. (CP)

A review of work related to the topological primacy thesis and a critique of some aspects of it are presented. On the basis of the psychological research, it is concluded that topological concepts ought to be taught. (MP)

The investigation reported pursued the possibility of cross-cultural differences between American and Swiss children in terms of how they perceive and conceptualize spatial figures. There was statistical evidence that the preferences of American and Swiss children were different when compared as a whole or by sex and test version. (MK)

This experiment investigated the effect of children's successive encounters with a large scale environment on their subsequent reconstructions of that environment. Twenty children (10 boys, 10 girls) at each of three grade levels (kindergarten, two, and five) reconstructed from memory the spatial layout of buildings in a large model town. All…

The growth of spatial awareness and representation was studied in children between ages five and nine. A group of thirteen tasks was administered to subjects three times with periods of approximately six months among sessions. The tasks were selected to measure understanding of projective spatial properties (straight line trajectories,…

Several critical questions concerning the topological primacy thesis were raised in an extensive literature survey (SE 531 428). Three points related to this criticism are discussed and reinforced, including a reexamination of Laurendeau and Pinard's data (showing that they do not support the hypothesis of topological primacy in children's…

Piaget's theories concerning the child's development of spatial concepts are considered in comparison with related mathematical concepts. The analysis yielded discrepancies between Piagetian and mathematical use of terms. (SD)