Abstract
In each of the three presented studies kindergarten children and school children walked a path of about one kilometer in a macro environment At up to six locations subjects stopped and were asked to point into the direction of the path origin with their outstretched arm and finger and later with a mechanical pointer or, in the case of the virtual environment, with a laser pointer. Pointing accuracy was taken as a measure for path integration. Kindergarten children from small German towns and from a primary school in Namibia as well as school children from Munich were tested. The Munich school children were also assessed in a virtual reality condition. Results indicate that children’s activity reports influence pointing accuracy. Implications for gender differences and ideas on affordances of children’s future real environments are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ecuyer Dab, I., Robert, M.: Spatial Ability and Home-Range Size: Examining the Relationship in Western Men and Women (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology 118, 217–231 (2004)
Etienne, A.S.: Navigation of a small mammal by dead reckoning and local cues. Current Directions in Psychological Science 1, 48–52 (1992)
Etienne, A.S., Maurer, R., Saucy, F.: Limitations in the assessment of path dependent information. Behaviour 106, 81–111 (1988)
Kearns, M.J., Warren, W.H., Duchon, A.P., Tarr, M.: Path integration from optic flow and body senses in a homing task. Perception 31, 349–374 (2002)
Maurer, R., Séguinot, V.: What is modelling for? A critical review of the models of path integration. Journal of Theoretical Biology 175, 457–475 (1995)
Neidhardt, E.: Orientierung bei Vorschulkindern: Zwei Feldexperimente zur Pfadintegration. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie 34(4), 185–193 (2002)
Neidhardt, E., Popp, M.: Spatial tests, familiarity with the surroundings and spatial activity experience–how do they contribute to spatial orientation in real macro environments? Journal of Individual Differences 31, 59–63 (2010)
Neidhardt, E., Schmitz, S.: Entwicklung von Strategien und Kompetenzen in der räumlichen Orientierung und in der Raumkognition: Einflüsse von Geschlecht, Alter, Erfahrung und Motivation. Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht 48(4), 262–279 (2001)
Newcombe, N.S., Huttenlocher, J.: Making space: The development of spatial representation and reasoning. The MIT Press, Cambridge (2000)
Popp, M.M., Platzer, E., Eichner, M., Schade, M.: Walking With and Without Perception of Distance in Large Scale Urban Areas in Reality and in Virtual Reality. Presence 13(1), 61–76 (2004)
Rieser, J.J., Pick, H.L.: Using locomotion to update spatial orientation: What changes with learning and development? In: Plumert, J.M., Spencer, J.M. (eds.) The Emerging Spatial Mind (2007)
Siegel, A.W., White, S.H.: The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments. In: Reese, H.W. (ed.) Advances in Child Development and Behavior, vol. 10, pp. 10–55. Academic Press, New York (1975)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Neidhardt, E., Popp, M. (2012). Activity Effects on Path Integration Tasks for Children in Different Environments. In: Stachniss, C., Schill, K., Uttal, D. (eds) Spatial Cognition VIII. Spatial Cognition 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7463. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32732-2_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32732-2_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-32731-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-32732-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)