Pointing at objects in other rooms: young children's sensitivity to perspective after walking with and without vision

Locomotion alters the spatial structure of an observer's perspective, that is, the network of observer to environment distances and directions. The purpose of the present 6 experiments was to investigate the sensitivity of 12-48-month-olds to changes in perspective that are occluded from view by walls and by darkness. To assess sensitivity, children were shown a target object in one room, walked into an adjacent room and asked to point in the straight-line direction at the target. In Experiment 1, 42 12-48-month-olds were tested and results indicated that children older than 36 months responded by pointing straight at the occluded target, whereas younger children tended to point in the direction of their route away from the target. In Experiments 2-4, 24- and 48-month-olds were tested and results demonstrated that 48-month-olds were sensitive to the proprioceptive and to the visual-environmental cues for the changes in perspective structure. The 24-month-olds, however, responded by pointing straight toward the target when visual-environmental cues were absent, whereas they pointed in the direction of their route when they were present. In Experiments 5 and 6 additional 24-month-olds were tested to assess the effects of short-term training and of a continuous view of the target on responding in the presence of visual-environmental cues. The results indicated relatively early sensitivity to proprioceptive cues for changes in perspective and somewhat later sensitivity to appropriate visual-environmental cues under these conditions.