Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development

During Piaget's concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 11, children exhibit a marked increase in logical thinking skills, specifically in relation to tangible, real-world events. This stage is characterized by the development of several essential cognitive concepts, including conservation, reversibility, and classification, all of which support the child's evolving capacity for structured thought.
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the...

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone,...

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of...

Circuit Terminology

Circuit Terminology

An electrical network is a system composed of interconnected elements, such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, and voltage or current sources. Unlike a circuit, an electrical network does not necessarily form a closed path. In other words, while all circuits can be considered networks due to their interconnected nature, not every network qualifies as a circuit.
A circuit, on the other hand, is also an interconnected system of electrical elements but must contain one or more closed paths.

The Nativist Approach

The Nativist Approach

The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Robust representation of the spatial arrangement of topological features.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2026

Same author

Ensemble size perception as a case study of the bounds of adaptation.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2026

Same author

Distortions of space and time in and around objects and events.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2026

Same author

Unfolding event structure distorts subjective time.

Cognition·2025

Same author

Can we "see" value? Spatiotopic "visual" adaptation to an imperceptible dimension.

Cognition·2025

Same author

No privileged link between intentionality and causation: Generalizable effects of agency in language.

Cognition·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2025

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

Published on: July 17, 2021

Children's Understanding of Topological Relations.

Sami R Yousif¹, Lily B Goldstein², Elizabeth M Brannon²

¹Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Open Mind : Discoveries in Cognitive Science

|April 3, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Young children intuitively grasp topological spatial relations, similar to adults. This suggests topological understanding is a fundamental building block of human visuospatial representation from an early age.

Keywords:

geometry spatial cognition topology

More Related Videos

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Published on: March 18, 2019

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 16, 2025

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

Published on: July 17, 2021

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Published on: March 18, 2019

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Area of Science:

Developmental cognitive science
Visuospatial cognition
Cognitive development

Background:

Human thought is built upon fundamental cognitive abilities.
Prior research shows sensitivity to Euclidean geometry in diverse populations.
The understanding of other geometric forms, like topology, in early development is less explored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate children's sensitivity to topological spatial forms.
To compare children's and adults' understanding of topological relations.
To assess the role of topological relations as foundational elements in visuospatial representation.

Main Methods:

Experimental tasks assessing children's ability to distinguish and match objects based on topological properties.
Comparison of children's object similarity judgments with adult norms.
Comparative analysis of performance on topological versus geometric (curvature, symmetry) tasks.

Main Results:

Children spontaneously distinguish and match items based on topological relations, mirroring adult capabilities.
Children's object similarity judgments align significantly with adult judgments, indicating lifespan stability in object concepts.
Performance on topological tasks was comparable to performance on geometric property tasks, despite some variability.

Conclusions:

Young children possess an intuitive grasp of topological spatial relations.
Topological relations appear to be fundamental building blocks of human visuospatial representation.
Cognitive development of spatial understanding is robust and present early in life.