Early Development of Spatial-Numerical Associations

Barnard College, New York NY

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Starting as early as the first year of life, humans possess a spatial awareness of the world around them. Infants? spatial awareness exhibits evolutionary biases that are found in other non-human animals, such as prioritizing the left side of space as an initial starting point when scanning a scene or object. Adults? spatial awareness, on the other hand, exhibits biases that reflect the spatial vagaries of the culture?s dominant language. For example, English-speaking adults (who read and write from left to right) associate small numbers with the left side of space, and large numbers with the right, but this association is attenuated or reversed in Hebrew-speaking adults (who read and write from right to left). These directional spatial associations provide a boost to our cognition. Children and adults who represent information such as letters and numbers in a directional, culturally reinforced, spatial manner show better learning and memory for that information. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true ? people who have noticeable deficits in using their spatial awareness to support their numerical reasoning experience clinical impairments in mathematical cognition. This learning disability, termed dyscalculia, effects an estimated 5% of the population and limits the academic achievement and subsequent opportunities of those who suffer from it. The objective of the current proposal is to take a close look at how spatial associations shift from an immature and generic spatial predisposition in infancy, to a mature, adaptive strategy that supports efficient learning and memory later in childhood. There are three specific aims guiding this proposal. The first is to document if and when spatial biases in infancy recede, and the nature of the spatial biases that replace them later in development. The second is to quantify how the culture of the learner shapes the nature of the spatial information that gets imposed and transmitted. And the third is to determine if, how, and when parents? behaviors inculcate different types of spatial associations. This proposal supports NICHD?s mission of generating basic research findings (such as determining the most effective ways to inculcate spatial structuring, and outlining the relationship between different types of spatial structuring and early numeracy) that help to realize the full potential of typically developing children, with potential to help as well those with impairments in mathematical or spatial cognition.