Origins of knowledge.

Spelke, Elizabeth S.; Breinlinger, Karen; Macomber, Janet; Jacobson, Kristen C.

doi:10.1037/0033-295x.99.4.605

Cited by 1,324 publications

(967 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…To recognize that a nearer retinal picture takes up more space than a retinal picture further away does is important to the object-aperture relationship. Reviews of developmental size problems reveal that before six months of age infants can perceive size irrespective of distance, and compare the relationship between an object and an aperture (Piaget and Inhelder 1956;Granrud, Haake et al 1985;Slater, Mattock et al 1990;Spelke, Breinlinger et al 1992). But even if they know that the retinal images vary with distance, they are unaware of how much they vary (Piaget and Inhelder 1956), and from Study III we see that it is not until 20 months of age that children can compare sizes.…”

Section: Making a Choicementioning

confidence: 88%

“…Importantly, though, they seem not to know how much smaller it is. Even though four-month-old infants can compare the width of a ball to that of an opening and judge whether the ball can fit through the opening (Spelke, Breinlinger et al 1992) when they are at the same distance, the relationship between objects and aperture, at least when they are presented at different distances, is not clear to them. When children were presented with two objects and a single aperture through which only one object could pass, older children chose the object of the correct size and shape, whereas younger children selected objects irrespective of their relation to the aperture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

Örnkloo¹,

Hofsten²

2007

Developmental Psychology

121

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The authors examined 14-to 26-month-old infants' understanding of the spatial relationships between objects and apertures in an object manipulation task. The task was to insert objects with various cross-sections (circular, square, rectangular, ellipsoid, and triangular) into fitting apertures. A successful solution required the infant to mentally rotate the object to be fit into the aperture and use that information to plan the action. The object was presented standing up in half of the trials; in the other half, it was lying down. The results showed that infants solved the problem consistently from age 22 months and that a successful solution was associated with appropriate preadjustments before the hand arrived with the block to the aperture. No sex differences were found.

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Section: Making a Choicementioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

Örnkloo¹,

Hofsten²

2007

Developmental Psychology

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For example, Spelke, Breinlinger, Macomber, and Jacobson (1992) have argued that young babies use this distinction to discriminate between objects: Continuity of motion indicates that a single object is moving in space, whereas discontinuity indicates the existence of more than one object. Importantly, this distinction plays a crucial role in the development of "number sense" (Dehaene, 1997).…”

Section: Semantic Alignment In Understanding Mathematical Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling discrete and continuous entities with fractions and decimals.

Rapp¹,

Bassok²,

DeWolf³

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

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When people use mathematics to model real-life situations, their use of mathematical expressions is often mediated by semantic alignment (Bassok, Chase, & Martin, 1998): The entities in a problem situation evoke semantic relations (e.g., tulips and vases evoke the functionally asymmetric “contain” relation), which people align with analogous mathematical relations (e.g., the noncommutative division operation, tulips/vases). Here we investigate the possibility that semantic alignment is also involved in the comprehension and use of rational numbers (fractions and decimals). A textbook analysis and results from two experiments revealed that both mathematic educators and college students tend to align the discreteness versus continuity of the entities in word problems (e.g., marbles vs. distance) with distinct symbolic representations of rational numbers—fractions versus decimals, respectively. In addition, fractions and decimals tend to be used with nonmetric units and metric units, respectively. We discuss the importance of the ontological distinction between continuous and discrete entities to mathematical cognition, the role of symbolic notations, and possible implications of our findings for the teaching of rational numbers.

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“…This (innate) capacity to represent the invisible-to act off stored representations of the perceptually unavailable-is made manifest by early imitation from memory but applies more broadly than imitation (cf. Baillargeon, 1993;Bower, 1982;Spelke, Breinlinger, Macomber, & Jacobson, 1992). The double significance of early imitation is that it is not only a marker of such a representational capacity, but is itself an important engine in infants' developing understanding of persons.…”

Section: Memory Representation and Developmental Change In Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imitation, memory, and the representation of persons

Meltzoff

Moore

1994

Infant Behavior and Development

445

143

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Imitation was tested both immediately and after a 24-hr retention interval in 6-week-old infants. The results showed immediate imitation, which replicates past research, and also imitation from memory, which is new. The latter finding implicates recall memory and establishes that 6-weekolds can generate actions on the basis of stored representations. The motor organization involved in imitation was investigated through a microanalysis of the matching response. Results revealed that infants gradually modified their behavior towards more accurate matches over successive trials. It is proposed that early imitation serves a social identity function. Infants are motivated to imitate after a 24-hr delay as a means of clarifying whether the person they see before them is the same one they previously encountered. They use the reenactment of a person's behavior to probe whether this is the same person. In the domain of inanimate objects, infants use physical manipulations (e.g., shaking) to perform this function. Imitation is to understanding people as physical manipulation is to understanding things. Motor imitation, the behavioral reenactment of things people do, is a primitive means of understanding and communicating with people. Keywordsimitation; memory; mental representation; faces; cross-modal; motor coordination; self; identity; communication; theory of mind; development Children learn by watching adults. Young children often do as parents do instead of as parents say, suggesting that visual models exert a powerful influence on children's actions. In infancy, before language, imitation plays an especially prominent role: It is an avenue for teaching motor skills and also embodies a mutuality and reciprocity that is the essence of communication at the nonverbal level. As apparently simple and commonplace as imitation is, it presents some of the deepest puzzles for theories of infancy. In order to imitate, the child must see the adult's actions, use this visual perception as a basis for an action plan, and execute the motor output. Thus, imitation taps perception, cross-modal coordination, and motor control. If imitation takes place after a significant delay, memory is also involved. The type of memory indexed by imitation is not merely recognition memory, because the infant is doing more than seeing a pattern as familiar or novel. The infant must generate an action on the basis of a memory, thus illustrating a primitive form of nonverbal recall memory (Mandler, 1990;Meltzoff, 1985Meltzoff, , 1988aMeltzoff, , 1990b.Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Andrew N. Meltzoff, Department of Psychology (WJ-10), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe rich psychological web in which imitation is situated-learning, communication, perception-action links, memory, and representation-has made it an enduring topic in developmental psychology (Baldwin, 1906;Piaget, 1962) and an issue in philosophy of...

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Origins of knowledge.

Cited by 1,324 publications

References 78 publications

Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

Modeling discrete and continuous entities with fractions and decimals.

Imitation, memory, and the representation of persons

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