Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers' spatial transformation skill

Developmental Psychology

Volumn 48, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 530-542

  Levine, Susan C ^a   Ratliff, Kristin R ^a   Huttenlocher, Janellen ^a   Cannon, Joanna ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

Gender differences; Mental rotation; Preschool children; Puzzle play; Spatial skill

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHILD DEVELOPMENT; CHILD PARENT RELATION; DEPTH PERCEPTION; FAMILY; FEMALE; HUMAN; INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION; LONGITUDINAL STUDY; MALE; MENTAL FUNCTION; PHYSIOLOGY; PRESCHOOL CHILD; PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; RECREATION; REPRODUCIBILITY; SEX DIFFERENCE; SOCIOECONOMICS;

CHILD DEVELOPMENT; CHILD, PRESCHOOL; COMMUNICATION; FAMILY; FEMALE; HUMANS; LONGITUDINAL STUDIES; MALE; MENTAL PROCESSES; PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS; PLAY AND PLAYTHINGS; PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SEX FACTORS; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; SPACE PERCEPTION;

EID: 84863000708     PISSN: 00121649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0025913     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Baenninger, M., & Newcombe, N. (1989). The role of experience in spatial test performance: A meta-analysis. Sex Roles, 20, 327-344. doi:10.1007/BF00287729
2. Baenninger, M., & Newcombe, N. (1995). Environmental input to the development of sex-related differences in spatial and mathematical skill. Learning and Individual Differences, 7, 363-379. doi:10.1016/1041-6080(95)90007-1
3. Benbow, C. P., Lubinski, D., Shea, D. L., & Eftekhari-Sanjani, H. (2000). Sex differences in mathematical reasoning skill at age 13: Their status 20 years later. Psychological Science, 11, 474-480. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00291
4. Bus, A. G., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65, 1-21.
5. Caldera, Y. M., Culp, A. M., O'Brien, M., Truglio, R. T., Alvarez, M., & Huston, A. C. (1999). Children's play preferences, construction play with blocks, and visual-spatial skills: Are they related. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 23, 855-872. doi:10.1080/016502599383577
6. Casey, M. B., Andrews, N., Schindler, H., Kersh, J. E., Samper, A., & Copley, J. (2008). The development of spatial skills through interventions involving block building activities. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 269-309. doi:10.1080/07370000802177177
7. Casey, M. B., & Brabeck, M. M. (1990). Women who excel on a spatial task: Proposed genetic and environmental factors. Brain and Cognition, 12, 73-84. doi:10.1016/0278-2626(90)90005-9
8. Casey, M. B., Erkut, S., Ceder, I., & Young, J. M. (2008). Use of storytelling context to improve girls' and boys' geometry skills in kindergarten. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 29-48. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2007.10.005
9. Casey, M. B., Nuttall, R., & Pezaris, E. (1997). Mediators of gender differences in mathematics college entrance test scores: A comparison of spatial skills with internalized beliefs and anxieties. Developmental Psychology, 33, 669-680. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.669
10. Connor, J. M., & Serbin, L. A. (1977). Behaviorally based masculine-and feminine-activity-preference scales for preschoolers: Correlates with other classroom behaviors and cognitive tests. Child Development, 48, 1411-1416. doi:10.2307/1128500
11. De Lisi, R., & Wolford, J. L. (2002). Improving children's mental rotation accuracy with computer game playing. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 163, 272-282. doi:10.1080/00221320209598683
12. DeLoache, J. S., & DeMendoza, O. A. P. (1987). Joint picturebook reading of mothers and one-year-old children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 111-123. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1987.tb01047.x
13. Demir, ö. E., Applebaum, L., Levine, S. C., Petty, K., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2011). The story behind parent-child book-reading interactions: Relations to later language and reading outcomes. In N. Danis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Boston University Conference on Language Development (Vol. 1, pp. 157-169). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
14. Ehrlich, S. B., Levine, S., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2006). The importance of gesture in children's spatial reasoning. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1259-1268. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1259
15. Farrell, M. (1957). Gender differences in block play in early childhood education. Journal of Educational Research, 51, 279-284.
16. Folk, M. D., & Luce, R. (1987). Effects of stimulus complexity on mental rotation rate of polygons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 13, 395-404. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.13.3.395
17. Gentner, D. (2003). Why we're so smart. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.), Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (pp. 195-235). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
18. Halpern, D. F., Benbow, C. P., Geary, D. C., Gur, R., Hyde, J. S., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2007). The science of sex differences in science and mathematics. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 8, 1-51.
19. Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Brooks.
20. Hedges, L. V., & Chung, V. (2011). Does spatial ability predict STEM college major and employment: An examination of two longitudinal studies. Manuscript in preparation.
21. Heil, M., & Jansen-Osmann, P. (2008). Sex difference in mental rotation with polygons of different complexity: Do men utilize holistic processes whereas women prefer piecemeal ones. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 683-689. doi:10.1080/17470210701822967
22. Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368-1378. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00612
23. Huston, A. (1983). Sex typing. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 4, 3rd ed., pp. 387-467). New York, NY: Wiley.
24. Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27, 236-248. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.27.2.236
25. Huttenlocher, J., Levine, S. C., & Vevea, J. (1998). Environmental effects on cognitive growth. Child Development, 69, 1012-1029. doi:10.2307/1132360
26. Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E., & Levine, S. C. (2002). Language input at home and at school: Relation to child syntax. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 337-374. doi:10.1016/S0010-0285(02)00500-5
27. Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Waterfall, H. R., Vevea, J. L., & Hedges, L. V. (2007). The varieties of speech to young children. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1062-1083. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.5.1062
28. Hyde, J. S. (1981). How large are cognitive gender differences. A metaanalysis using 2 and d. American Psychologist, 36, 892-901. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.36.8.892
29. Kail, R., Carter, P., & Pellegrino, J. (1979). The locus of sex differences in spatial skill. Perception & Psychophysics, 26, 182-186. doi:10.3758/BF03199867
30. Levine, S. C., Huttenlocher, J., Taylor, A., & Langrock, A. (1999). Early sex differences in spatial skill. Developmental Psychology, 35, 940-949. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.4.940
31. Levine, S. C., Vasilyeva, M., Lourenco, S. F., Newcombe, N. S., & Huttenlocher, J. (2005). Socioeconomic status modifies the sex difference in spatial skill. Psychological Science, 16, 841-845. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01623.x
32. Linn, M. C., & Petersen, A. C. (1985). Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 56, 1479-1498. doi:10.2307/1130467
33. Loewenstein, J., & Gentner, D. (2005). Relational language and the development of relational mapping. Cognitive Psychology, 50, 315-353. doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.09.004
34. McClurg, P. A., & Chaille, C. (1987). Computer games: Environments for developing spatial cognition. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 3, 95-111.
35. Pan, B. A., Rowe, M. L., Singer, J. D., & Snow, C. E. (2005). Maternal correlates of growth in toddler vocabulary production in low-income families. Child Development, 76, 763-782.
36. Pezaris, E., & Casey, M. B. (1991). Girls who use "masculine" problemsolving strategies on a spatial task: Proposed genetic and environmental effects. Brain and Cognition, 17, 1-22. doi:10.1016/0278-2626(91)90062-D
37. Pruden, S., Levine, S. C., & Huttenlocher, J. (2011). Children's spatial thinking: Does talk about the spatial world matter Advance online publication. Developmental Science. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01088.x
38. Ratliff, K. R., Levine, S. C., & Saunders, J. (2011). A cognitive basis of individual differences in children's spatial problem-solving strategies. Manuscript submitted for publication.
39. Saracho, O. N. (1994). The relationship of preschool children's cognitive style to their play preferences. Early Child Development and Care, 97, 21-33. doi:10.1080/0300443940970103
40. Saracho, O. N. (1995). Preschooler's cognitive style and their selection of academic areas in their play. Early Child Development and Care, 112, 27-42. doi:10.1080/0300443951120103
41. Sénéchal, M., & Lefevre, J.-A. (2001). Storybook reading and parent teaching: Links to language and literacy development. In J. Brooks-Gunn & P. Rebello (Eds.), Sourcebook on emergent literacy (pp. 39-52). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
42. Serbin, L. A., & Connor, J. M. (1979). Sex-typing of children's play preferences and patterns of cognitive performance. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 134, 315-316.
43. Serbin, L. A., Zelkowitz, P., Doyle, A., Gold, D., & Wheaton, B. (1990). The socialization of sex-differentiated skills and academic performance: A meditational model. Sex Roles, 23, 613-628. doi:10.1007/BF00289251
44. Shea, D. L., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2001). Importance of assessing spatial ability in intellectually talented young adolescents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 604-614. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.604
45. Silvern, L. E. (1978). Masculinity-femininity in children's self concepts: The relationship to teachers' judgments, social adjustment and academic ability, classroom behavior and popularity. Sex Roles, 4, 929-949. doi:10.1007/BF00287712
46. Subrahmanyam, K., & Greenfield, P. M. (1994). Effect of video game practice on spatial skills in girls and boys. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15, 13-32. doi:10.1016/0193-3973(94)90004-3
47. Szechter, L. E., & Liben, L. S. (2004). Parental guidance in preschoolers' understanding of spatial-graphic representations. Child Development, 75, 869-885. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00711.x
48. Terlecki, M. S., & Newcombe, N. S. (2005). How important is the digital divide. The relation of computer and videogame usage to gender differences in mental rotation ability. Sex Roles, 53, 433-441. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-6765-0
49. Terlecki, M. S., Newcombe, N. S., & Little, M. (2008). Durable and generalized effects of spatial experience on mental rotation: Gender differences in growth patterns. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 996-1013. doi:10.1002/acp.1420
50. Thorndike, R. L. Hagen, E. P., & Sattler, M. (1986). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Fourth Edition: Technical manual. Chicago, IL: Riverside.
51. Tracy, D. M. (1987). Toys, spatial ability, and science and mathematics achievement: Are they related. Sex Roles, 17, 115-138. doi:10.1007/BF00287620
52. Voyer, D., Voyer, S., & Bryden, M. P. (1995). Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: A meta-analysis and consideration of critical variables. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 250-270. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.2.250
53. Wai, J., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2009). Spatial ability for STEM domains: Aligning over 50 years of cumulative psychological knowledge solidifies its importance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 817-835. doi:10.1037/a0016127
54. Wechsler, D. (1967). Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI). New York, NY: Psychological Corporation/Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
55. Wells, G. (1987). Apprenticeship in literacy. Interchange, 18, 109-123. doi:10.1007/BF01807064
56. Whitehurst, G. J., Arnold, D. S., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Smith, M., & Fischel, J. E. (1994). A picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30, 679-689. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.30.5.679
57. Williams, A. D. (2004). The jigsaw puzzle: Piece together a history. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
58. Witkin, H. S., Oltman, P. K., Raskin, E., & Karp, S. A. (1971). A manual for the Embedded Figures Tests. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.