TY - JOUR
T1 - The coding and transformation of spatial information
AU - Huttenlocher, Janellen
AU - Presson, Clark C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The preparation of this paper was supported National Institutes of Health to the first author. Gruber, Linda Smith, and especially Deborah manuscript. Requests for reprints should be Chicago, 5835 S. Kimbark Avenue, Chicago, in part by Research Grant HD 03215 from the The authors thank Richard Aslin, Christian Burke, for their helpful comments on the sent to Janellen Huttenlocher, University of IL 60637.
PY - 1979/7
Y1 - 1979/7
N2 - The present paper examines the mental processes involved in inferring perspective changes that result either from the rotation of a spatial array or from the rotation of the viewer of that array. Piaget has shown that viewer-rotation problems are difficult when children must choose among pictures or models of an array from differing perspectives. We showed earlier that, with parallel tasks, array-rotation problems are much easier than viewer-rotation problems. We proposed that in solving these problems, subjects interpret the instructions literally, recoding the position of the viewer vis-à-vis the array for viewer-rotation problems and recoding the array with respect to its spatial framework for arrayrotation problems. At that time, we proposed a second principle to explain why Piagetian perspective problems are so difficult; namely, that children have special difficulty in recoding viewer position (egocentrism). The present experiments show that, when subjects are asked a different sort of question on such tasks, viewer-rotation problems become easy and array-rotation problems become difficult. The results show that the difficulty of the Piagetian perspective task is not due to egocentrism; i.e., to difficulty recoding viewer position. The results of all these rotational-transformation tasks can be explained if we add a different second principle to the principle of literalness of problem interpretation. This new second principle posits that the array is fixed vis-à-vis the spatial context rather than that the viewer is fixed vis-à-vis the array.
AB - The present paper examines the mental processes involved in inferring perspective changes that result either from the rotation of a spatial array or from the rotation of the viewer of that array. Piaget has shown that viewer-rotation problems are difficult when children must choose among pictures or models of an array from differing perspectives. We showed earlier that, with parallel tasks, array-rotation problems are much easier than viewer-rotation problems. We proposed that in solving these problems, subjects interpret the instructions literally, recoding the position of the viewer vis-à-vis the array for viewer-rotation problems and recoding the array with respect to its spatial framework for arrayrotation problems. At that time, we proposed a second principle to explain why Piagetian perspective problems are so difficult; namely, that children have special difficulty in recoding viewer position (egocentrism). The present experiments show that, when subjects are asked a different sort of question on such tasks, viewer-rotation problems become easy and array-rotation problems become difficult. The results show that the difficulty of the Piagetian perspective task is not due to egocentrism; i.e., to difficulty recoding viewer position. The results of all these rotational-transformation tasks can be explained if we add a different second principle to the principle of literalness of problem interpretation. This new second principle posits that the array is fixed vis-à-vis the spatial context rather than that the viewer is fixed vis-à-vis the array.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0018490120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0018490120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0010-0285(79)90017-3
DO - 10.1016/0010-0285(79)90017-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 519969
AN - SCOPUS:0018490120
SN - 0010-0285
VL - 11
SP - 375
EP - 394
JO - Cognitive Psychology
JF - Cognitive Psychology
IS - 3
ER -