Oxford University Press The Emerging Spatial Mind

Human activity and thought is embedded within and richly structured by the space around us. We have detailed knowledge of the world that surrounds us - we remember where objects are, what they are, and how they are arranged relative to one another. We can navigate through spaces to locate and retrieve objects, or we can direct the actions of others through language. We can use maps to find out way from one city to the next, or we can navigate using a virtual map to locate a missing computer file. But where do these abilities come from? What is the developmental origin of the spatial mind? This book brings together leading scholars from the field of spatial cognitive development to examine how the spatial mind emerges from its humble origins in infancy to its mature, flexible, and skilled adult form. Each chapter presents cutting-edge research and theory that asks: 1. what changes in spatial cognition occur over development?, and 2. how do these changes come about? The authors provide conceptual as well as formal theoretical accounts of developmental process at multiple levels of analysis (e.g. genes, neurons, behaviours, social interactions), providing a contemporary overview of general mechanisms of cognitive change. In addition, commentators place these advances in our understanding of spatial cognitive development within the field of spatial cognition more generally. As humans, we are profoundly influenced by the space around us. This book sheds light on how our experiences thinking about and interacting in space through time foster and shape the emerging spatial mind. Review [I]ncludes much of the best current thinking about fundamental questions in spatial development . . . By encouraging so many of the best thinkers in the field to address these basic issues, and by bringing their ideas together in a single volume, the editors have done a real service. --Robert Siegler, Teresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University . . . This collection of chapters from many of the main thinkers in the field provides thoughtful perspectives on those issues. --Barbara Tversky, Professor Emerita of Psychology, Stanford University This is a much needed book in an area that has seen considerable advances over the past 20 years or so . . . will be a must for advanced students and researchers at every level working on the development of spatial cognition. --Gavin Bremner, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Lancaster [P]rovides an authoritative, up-to-date, wide-ranging view of spatial development . . .This volume will be an indispensable source for anyone interested in how children come to understand and act in the world. --Judy S. Deloache, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia . . . offers a valuable and timely synthesis that encompasses basic processes, how children come to represent and communicate about space, and the neural systems that support their abilities. --Roberta L. Klatzky, Professor of Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction, Carnegie Mellon University The editors hoped to contribute to the emerging vision of the spatial mind as it moves beyond the field of spatial cognition, integrating the insights from the field of spatial cognitive development with research on adult spatial cognition, the neural bases of spatial cognition, the evolution of spatial thinking, and beyond. Toward that end, they have achieved success.--John S. Wodarski in PsycCRITIQUES