Activity Effects on Path Integration Tasks for Children in Different Environments

• Published in: Spatial Cognition VIII Vol. 7463; pp. 210 - 219
• Main Authors: Neidhardt, Eva, Popp, Michael
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Springer Berlin / Heidelberg 2012; Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: children; path integration; pointing; Spatial activity; virtual reality
• ISBN: 3642327311; 9783642327315
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-32732-2_14

In each of the three presented studies kindergarten children and school children walked a path of about one kilometer in a macro environment At up to six locations subjects stopped and were asked to point into the direction of the path origin with their outstretched arm and finger and later with a mechanical pointer or, in the case of the virtual environment, with a laser pointer. Pointing accuracy was taken as a measure for path integration. Kindergarten children from small German towns and from a primary school in Namibia as well as school children from Munich were tested. The Munich school children were also assessed in a virtual reality condition. Results indicate that children’s activity reports influence pointing accuracy. Implications for gender differences and ideas on affordances of children’s future real environments are discussed.