Individual differences in young children's visual-spatial abilities

An enduring challenge in visual-spatial research has been to identify the factors contributing to individual differences in ability. This research investigated the overall, verbal, and nonverbal visual-spatial ability of 61 (34 boys) three- to five-year-olds (M age  = 57.3 months; SD = 7.9) and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Early child development and care 2021-10, Vol.191 (14), p.2246-2259
Main Authors: Kotsopoulos, Donna, Makosz, Samantha, Zambrzycka, Joanna, Dickson, Brandon A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Differences
Children
Cognitive Ability
Correlation
Family Relationship
Gender Differences
home experiences
Individual Differences
Intelligence
Intelligence Tests
Kindergarten
Mathematics
Mathematics Skills
Mental rotation
Nonverbal Ability
Older children
Parent Attitudes
Parent Child Relationship
Predictor Variables
Preschool Children
Quantitative reasoning
Rotation
Short Term Memory
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic Status
Spatial Ability
Task Analysis
Thinking Skills
Verbal Ability
Visual Perception
Visual-Spatial ability
Visual-Spatial learning
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Summary:An enduring challenge in visual-spatial research has been to identify the factors contributing to individual differences in ability. This research investigated the overall, verbal, and nonverbal visual-spatial ability of 61 (34 boys) three- to five-year-olds (M age  = 57.3 months; SD = 7.9) and the following factors known to be related to visual-spatial ability: grade, sex, socio-economic status, math and spatial activity engagement at home, parental mental rotation, quantitative reasoning, intelligence, and working memory. Results revealed quantitative reasoning and general intelligence were an important predictor of overall and nonverbal visual-spatial ability. Mathematics activities in the home predicted children's verbal visual-spatial ability but not after accounting for various cognitive factors. Given the highly malleable nature of visual-spatial ability, we anticipated a grade effect; however, this was not found. Older children did not outperform the younger children suggesting a possible 'kindergarten in-effect' whereby schooling did not result in visual-spatial learning over time.
ISSN:0300-4430
1476-8275
DOI:10.1080/03004430.2019.1699918