Does spatial locative comprehension predict landmark-based navigation?

Abstract

In the present study we investigated the role of spatial locative comprehension in learning and retrieving pathways when landmarks were available and when they were absent in a sample of typically developing 6- to 11-year-old children. Our results show that the more proficient children are in understanding spatial locatives the more they are able to learn pathways, retrieve them after a delay and represent them on a map when landmarks are present in the environment. These findings suggest that spatial language is crucial when individuals rely on sequences of landmarks to drive their navigation towards a given goal but that it is not involved when navigational representations based on the geometrical shape of the environment or the coding of body movements are sufficient for memorizing and recalling short pathways.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115432
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Psychology
Additional Information: © 2015 Piccardi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all),Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all),Medicine(all)
Publication ISSN: 1932-6203
Last Modified: 26 Jan 2024 08:05
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2015 10:45
Full Text Link: http://journals ... al.pone.0115432
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2015-01-28
Authors: Piccardi, Laura
Palermo, Liana (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-8047-7201)
Bocchi, Alessia
Guariglia, Cecilia
d'Amico, Simonetta

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License: Creative Commons Attribution


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