The Development of Spatial Cognition and Its Malleability Assessed in Mass Population via a Mobile Game

Spatial cognition is a fundamental aspect of human intelligence, but our understanding of its developmental trajectory across the life span is limited. Here, we applied game-based assessment on mobile devices to engage a large sample from China (N = 216,713) with a wide age range (from under 10 year...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological science Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 345 - 357
Main Authors Xu, Shan, Song, Yiying, Liu, Jia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Child
China
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive development
Cognitive functioning
Discrimination
Female
Humans
Intelligence
Male
Mental rotation
Mobile Applications
Rotation
Spatial ability
Spatial Navigation
Video Games
China
cognitive development
spatial cognition
game-based assessment
mirror-image discrimination
malleability
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Summary:Spatial cognition is a fundamental aspect of human intelligence, but our understanding of its developmental trajectory across the life span is limited. Here, we applied game-based assessment on mobile devices to engage a large sample from China (N = 216,713) with a wide age range (from under 10 years old to above 60) in multiple participations of a mental rotation task, a typical measure of spatial cognition. We found that spatial ability developed asynchronously with its malleability. Whereas mental rotation performance peaked at the age of 28, with males performing better than females, the effect of training from repeated participation peaked at 18, probably laying the foundation for the development of spatial ability. In contrast, children showed particularly low malleability, and a follow-up experiment revealed that the underdeveloped ability of mirror-image discrimination likely hindered the malleability of spatial cognition during this period. The intermingled relation of ability and malleability illustrates dynamics in the development of spatial cognition, inviting broad research on the development of other cognitive functions.
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ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/09567976221137313