Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2025

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Diversity of spatial activities and parents' spatial talk complexity predict preschoolers' gains in spatial skills
Danielle S Fox1,2, Leanne Elliott1,2, Heather J Bachman1,3
1Learning Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Abstract:
Children's spatial activities and parental spatial talk were measured to examine their associations with variability in preschoolers' spatial skills (N = 113, Mage = 4 years, 4 months; 51% female; 80% White, 11% Black, and 9% other). Parents who reported more diversity in daily spatial activities and used longer spatial talk utterances during a spatial activity had children with greater gains in spatial skills from ages 4 to 5 (β = .17 and β = .40, respectively). Importantly, this study is the first to move beyond frequency counts of spatial input and investigate the links among the diversity of children's daily spatial activities, as well as the complexity of parents' spatial language across different contexts, and preschoolers' gains in spatial skills, an important predictor of later STEM success.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Information Processing Approach
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the...
The Nativist Approach
Biological Influences on Intelligence

