Spatial Development across the Life Span

Abstract

Fifth graders, ninth graders, college students, and persons over age sixty-five were given three pencil-and-paper tasks in spatial development. Knowledge of Euclidean space was assessed in each of these three tasks. In Task 1, the participants were asked to draw water lines in tilted bottles on a horizontal stand. In Task 2, they were asked to draw water lines in tilted bottles on a tilted stand. In Task 3, they were asked to give directions from one place to another on a hypothetical map. The performance on Task 1 and 2 increased from fifth grade to college. The performance of the elderly was the same as the college students on Task 1, and less than the college students in Task 2. The elderly participants' performance on Task 3 was better than the other three age groups. These results were discussed in terms of ecological validity, experience, and the number of competing cues to be processed simultaneously. Piaget's formulation on adult cognitive development was used to explain the elderly's performance in relation to other groups [1].