How Children Use Landmarks in a Geometrical Space Open Access

Cabrera, Janine (2012)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/k3569543h?locale=en
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Abstract

Abstract
How Children Use Landmarks in a Geometrical Space

The present study borrows from Graham et al. (2006) to address the conflicting theories that exist about the use of both geometry and landmarks in children. Across both 3- and 4-year-olds, there was improvement in performance in using the geometry of a kite-shaped space (no landmark trials) when they were exposed previously to featural cues, specifically, different colored walls in this space (landmark trials). This means that learning about the shape of a fairly complex enclosure was affected by the color of the walls in that shape. Together, these findings question the validity of a geometric module, which must be addressed in future studies.

Keywords: children, geometry, landmark, featural cues, geometric module

Table of Contents

Introduction...1

Geometric Module in Children...1
Modularity in Non-human Animals...3
Featural Cues...4
Geometry and Featural Cues: An Integrative Approach?...5
Present Experiment...7

General Method...8

Participants...8
Materials...9
Design...9
Procedure...10

Results...12
Discussion...14
References...20
Figures...24

Figure 1...24
Figure 2...25
Figure 3...26
Figure 4...27
Figure 5...28

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