{"pk":26351,"title":"General Mechanisms Underlying Language and Spatial Cognitive Development","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Previous research showed that children’s spatial language\nproduction predicts their spatial skills, but the mechanisms\nunderlying this relation remain a source of debate. This study\nexamined whether 4-year-olds’ spatial skills were predicted by\ntheir attention to task-relevant information—in tasks that\nemphasize either memory or language—above and beyond\ntheir spatial word production. Children completed three types\nof tasks: (1) a memory task assessing attention to task-relevant\ncolor, size, and location cues; (2) a production task assessing\nadaptive use of language to describe scenes, varying in color,\nsize, and location; and (3) spatial tasks. After controlling for\nage, gender, and vocabulary, children’s spatial skills were\nsignificantly predicted by their memory for task-relevant cues,\nabove and beyond their task-related language production and\nadaptive use of language. These findings suggest that attending\nto relevant information is a process supporting spatial skill\nacquisition and underlies the relation between language and\nspatial cognition.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"spatial cognition; short-term memory; language\nproduction; cognitive development"}],"section":"Papers","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5s7380dz","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Hilary","middle_name":"E.","last_name":"Miller","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Wisconsin","department":""},{"first_name":"Vanessa","middle_name":"R.","last_name":"Simmering","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Wisconsin","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2016-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/26351/galley/15987/download/"}]}