Two experiments examined the relationship between developmental improvement in performance on tasks requiring acquisition of spatial knowledge and age-sensitive cognitive abilities. Found that age differences in landmark knowledge were mediated primarily by recognition-in-context memory and that age differences in route knowledge were mediated…

Music stimulates thought processes and enhances spatial reasoning, which are essential for academic achievement. Research indicates the spatial reasoning performance of preschoolers who receive music lessons far exceeds that of comparison students. Even listening to music proves beneficial to spatial reasoning. Music training seems also to benefit…

This paper proposes that those traits which handicap visually oriented dyslexics in a verbally oriented educational system may confer advantages in new fields which rely on visual methods of analysis, especially those in computer applications. It is suggested that such traits also characterized Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday, James Maxwell, and…

Twenty congenitally blind infants were placed in a panelled framework with various tactile and auditory objects for 20-minute periods. Results indicated that subjects improved their performance of spatially related activities when exposed to an environment helping them understand the concept and permanence of objects and the production of…

An overview that gives an introduction to the theories, terms, concepts, and prior research conducted on visualization is presented. This information is to be used as a basis for developing spatial research studies that lend support to the theory that the engineering and technical design graphics curriculum is important in the development of…

Four experiments examined sources of gender differences routinely found on the water-level spatial test. Undergraduates' errors offered no evidence that less accurate responses by females than males reflected a less developed Piagetian spatial system, and that females' requisite motor skills were poorer than those of males. (MM)

Investigated how working memory differences between learning-disabled and nondisabled children reflect a specific or generalized deficit and whether limitations in enhancement of learning-disabled student's working memory performance are attributable to process or storage functions. Results suggest that learning-disabled suffer generalized working…

Four blind adults explored the spatial layout of landmarks in a large-scale space utilizing a microcomputer simulation of the environment and a tactile graphic aid of a similar environment. Although subjects learned the landmarks' locations faster using the tactile graphic aid, the accuracy of their spatial knowledge was equal with both…

This comparison of the performance of 40 congenitally blind children (ages 9-19) with and without retrolental fibroplasia on cognitive and spatial tasks found no significant differences. Findings suggest that early environmental experiences are responsible for successful performance, and that mental and spatial problem solving may depend on…

A model is presented for item responses when different subjects use different strategies, but only responses--not choice of strategy--can be observed. Substantive theory is used to differentiate the likelihoods of response vectors under a fixed set of strategies, and response probabilities are modeled via item parameters for each strategy. (TJH)

Three hypotheses accounting for individual differences in spatial visualization ability were investigated in 2 experiments with 142 male undergraduates at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta). Support was found for the preservation-under-transformation hypothesis, suggesting that effectiveness of storage during concurrent information…

Reviews the fundamental role of imagery in science and technology and our current knowledge of visual-spatial cognition. Results suggest that individual differences in perspectives should not be ignored. Contains 126 references. (DDR)

This study evaluated descriptions, either from memory or by using a map (print or tactile), of 12 visually impaired and 12 sighted elementary grade children of two routes around their schools. Descriptions from maps were generally poorer than those from memory. Qualitative differences were also found between descriptions of visually impaired and…

This study evaluated the effects of three instructional methods (direct experience, cartographic representation (tactile map), and verbal description) on the spatial knowledge of 30 adults with blindness. Results indicated that participants' practical spatial knowledge was better when they learned with a tactile map than in either of the other…

Three experiments explored change toward more flexible reliance on combinations of spatial and nonspatial landmark information to reorient oneself. Identified 5-7 years as age for this developmental change. Results suggest that language production skills play a causal role in allowing humans to construct novel representations rapidly, which can…