Spatial representations of young children: the role of self- versus adult-directed movement and viewing

The influence of the control of movement and viewing while exploring a novel large-scale environment was assessed. Forty kindergarteners and forty second grade children served in four activity conditions that represented the factorial combination of movement (self vs adult directed) and viewing (self vs adult directed). A significant grade level X movement X viewing interaction revealed that when kindergarteners directed their own movement, estimates of interlocation distances were equivalent whether viewing was self or adult directed. If movement was directed by an adult, kindergarteners estimated interlocation distances more accurately if the adult also directed their viewing than if the children directed their own viewing. Second grade children performed comparably across all four experimental conditions.