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Are all distances created equal? Insights from developmental psychology
Bronwyn O'Brien1, Joshua L Rutt1, Cristina M Atance1
1Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaK1N 6N5. bobri082@uottawa.ca jrutt@uottawa.ca atance@uottawa.ca http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/ccll/eng/.
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|July 11, 2020
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Gilead et al. proposed that mental travel across temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distances are interchangeable.
- This theory suggests these abilities develop concurrently during human ontogeny.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether children's reasoning is uniformly affected by traversing different dimensions of mental travel.
- To explore the distinct representational abilities underlying travel across various dimensions.
Main Methods:
- The study analyzed recent developmental data concerning children's reasoning.
- This involved examining how children navigate temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distances.
Main Results:
- Findings indicate that children's reasoning is differentially impacted by the dimension of mental travel.
- Distinct representational abilities are associated with traversing different dimensions, challenging the interchangeability hypothesis.
Conclusions:
- Children's mental travel abilities are not interchangeable across dimensions.
- Developmental trajectories for navigating temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distances likely involve unique cognitive mechanisms.
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