The claim by Bandura that the Rorschach space response is an artifact of longer blot exposure is questioned because of failure to account for the relationship between productivity and space response rates. Results of this study indicate that no significant temporal effect operates on space response rate. (Author/BEF)

Second and sixth graders acquired information about a large-scale environment either actively or passively. They were subsequently asked to estimate distances in either active or passive response style. Unlike the older children, second graders did not estimate distances accurately when acquisition and response activities were incongruent.…

Describes an activity for children of any age to develop spatial sense and explore the effects of transforming, combining, subdividing, and changing geometric figures. Students analyze empty cereal boxes opened flat to determine the specific shape, how it opens and closes, to check maps or sketches against the actual geometry of the box, and write…

Effects of display characteristics on bias of estimates of whisker length of 2 types of box-and-whisker plots were studied in 2 studies involving 347 college students. Bias seems to be the product of a three-way interaction between spatial orientation, interquartile spread, and whisker/spread ratio. (SLD)

Four experiments with 88 college students investigated whether variations in orientation that affect the ability to imagine rotations also affect the ability to imagine projective transformations. Results suggest that imagination of projection and rotation involves organization of spatial structures in relation to initially given properties of the…

Explains spatial perception and how it is influential on a student's academic abilities. Discusses how spatial thinkers conduct experiments in science learning and how to teach using spatial thinkers' participation. (YDS)

Four-, 6-, and 8-year olds were shown a test picture of three related objects and two target pictures of three objects in the same or different relation. Older subjects, but not 4-year olds, identified the relationally similar target picture when the test and target also differed in dimensions of size or color saturation and in direction of size…

Investigated the pedagogical quality of physical space by adapting a classroom to create a material "educational field" and testing children's performance on a "go to the front and right of the tower" activity. Found that the educational field made it possible for children to put into relation two spatial reference systems and…

Three studies investigated how experiencing nearby locations together in time influenced memory for location in 7-, 9-, and 11- year-olds and adults. Findings suggested that experiencing nearby locations together in time increased the weight children assigned to categorical information in their later estimates of location. Results were similar…

Examined the ability of 144 children of 6 and 12 years to respond to instructions to use environmental landmarks when leading the way. Children who were told they would lead the way did not prepare more adequately than children who were not told. Children did benefit from instructions to attend to environmental features. (RJC)

Three experiments using the familiarization-novelty preference procedure confirmed the hypothesis that three-month-old infants could form categorical representations of spatial relations above and below. The infants, after being shown a familiarization diagram with a dot appearing in multiple locations below a line, showed a preference for a novel…

Found that faulty test procedures may explain why infants sometimes locate hidden objects more easily in multiple-well tests than in two-well trials. Also found that errors in seven-well tests were not evenly distributed but occurred disproportionately in the direction of the previously correct well, suggesting that memory and inhibition are both…

Performance by congenitally blind, adventitiously blind, and sighted persons on three types of tasks (manipulatory, simple locomotion, and complex locomotion) was assessed. The three groups tended to perform equivalently. Results offer little evidence of a set of spatial processes that rely on past visual experience and are applicable to a broad…

An experimental group of 20 gifted adolescents received 3 weeks of computer-assisted design (CAD) instruction. Comparison of their scores on Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board test with those of 20 gifted controls showed CAD did not improve spatial visualization ability. Possible causes were differential computer experience, lack of random…

A theory of voluntary, top-down spatial control of visual spatial attention is presented that explains how linguistic cues are used to direct attention from one object to another. A series of 11 experiments involving almost 200 college students supports the theory and the importance of spatial reference frames. (SLD)