Above and Beyond Objects: The Development of Infants' Spatial Concepts

Early in development infants form categorical representations of small-scale spatial relations, such as left vs right and above vs below. This spatial skill allows infants to experience coherence in the layout of the objects in their environment and to note the equivalence of a spatial relation across changes in objects. Comparisons across studies of infant spatial categorization offer insight into the processes that contribute to the development of this skill. Rather than viewing contrasting results across studies as contradictory, identifying how infant spatial categorization tasks recruit distinct processes can not only reconcile findings but also yield insight into the starting points, development, and emerging nature of infants' representations of spatial relations. Also, situating infants' spatial categorization in the context of advances in nonspatial domains may reveal synergistic relations among these domains, particularly in relation to advances in infants' manipulative play with objects and their acquisition of spatial language. A central argument is that broadening the study of infants' spatial categorization may yield further insights into the nature of early spatial concepts and the processes that promote their development.