Understanding of the principle of verticality was tested by having 246 sixth-grade students draw a pendulum on pictures of an abstract shape similar to a steeple. Girls performed more poorly than boys. Verticality was apparently much better understood by subjects than horizontality, also tested to provide a comparison. (Author)

Reports a study of how adults form mental representations of large scale environments. Findings revealed that people use landmarks as initial anchor points and subsequently elaborate path structures. Multivariate techniques proved to be useful analytical tools. (Author/WB)

Data from a study of spatial representation in blind children were subjected to two stepwise regression analyses to determine the relationships between several subject related variables and responses to "map" (cognitive map) and "route" (sequential memory) questions about the position of furniture in a recently explored room. (Author/SBH)

Describes a simple activity using modeling clay to help biology students better understand the relationships between longitudinal, serial or cross-sections, and the entire structure from which the sections were made. (Author/SK)

Three experiments were conducted to examine the particular aspects of repeated experiences in a large-scale environment on the development of children's cognitive maps. Subjects were kindergartners and third graders. (MP)

Investigated whether or not spatial relational concepts could be taught to preschool children. Specifically examined the relative effectiveness of movement-oriented vs. verbal visual-oriented spatial training programs. (Author/SB)

A total of eighty 9-month-old infants were presented with a problem consisting of several different conditions which separated response, position on a table, and absolute spatial position as factors leading to errors in search for hidden objects. (MS)

This study investigated the incidence of learning disabilities in 105 children (ages 6-18) with neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1). Results found that nearly 70% of the subjects were academically deficient and 42% met the criteria for learning disabilities. A low incidence of visuospatial-constructional deficits was also found. (Author/CR)

Defines and discusses anamorphic art and describes an anamorphic art activity using the reflection of mirrored cylinders through a grid system. Particularly suitable for algebra or geometry classes. Requires some minimal skills from coordinate geometry and spatial visualization. (AIM)

Conducted a series of experiments in German, Dutch, French, Italian, and English to show that four factors systematically interact when people interpret spatial expressions: the reference object being intrinsically oriented or not; the preposition that is used; the social characteristics of the discourse situation; and the prepositional inventory…

Presents a contrastive analysis of English and Japanese demonstratives based on the first- (L1) and second-language (L2) data of an earlier study. First, the traditional explanations and their alternative models for English and Japanese are presented, then, all models are tested with the L1 and L2 data, which leads to a discussion of the different…

Compared male and female four-year-olds' performance on a kinesthetic acuity test (KAT) with or without extra visual-spatial cues and on a measure of visual-spatial ability. Found that all children performed better on the KAT with extra cues and that boys scored higher on visual-spatial ability and performed better on the KAT only with extra cues.…

Identified subjects' handedness and family handedness (genetic variables) and college major (environmental variable); and tested subjects on the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test. Found that right-handed females with non-right-handed relatives and with science or math majors outperformed other females and equaled the performance of males on the…

Investigated intra-individual development of ability to modify the size of a human figure drawing. Found through longitudinal data that children between ages 7 and 9 were able to reduce drawing size. Discovered that the larger the figure initially, the more complex the level of spatial axes system, and the more persons in the picture, the greater…