Age Dynamics of the Development of Visual-Spatial Perspective-Taking

The article presents an overview of foreign studies of the visual-spatial perspective-taking as the ability to determine what the other person sees. This phenomenon was first described by J. Piaget, but his study remains relevant to this day. As the analysis of modern scientific sources has shown, altercentric interference can contribute understanding of Level 1 perspective-taking; the development of Level 2 perspective-taking is closely related to the formation of navigation skills and mental rotation, and with the optimization of the use of spatial reference systems. An allocentric frame of reference goes pass a long way of formation throughout the preschool period: from the geometry of space and local landmarks to the configuration of array elements. The geometry of the array, as a form of spatial connections between objects, remains stable in relation to the target even with mental rotation. Accordingly, the more formed allocentric frame of reference a child uses, the more effectively he can perceive another's viewpoint. This pattern should be taken into account in further studies of perspective-taking.

1. Nardini M., Thomas R.L., Knowland V., Braddick O.J., Atkinson J. A viewpoint-independent process for spatial reorientation / Cognition, 2009. Vol. 112, no. 2, pp. 241—248. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.003
2. Aldrich L. Spontaneous visual perspective-taking: level 2 representations of another's perspective are not related to what they actually see [Electronic resource]. The Plymouth Student Scientist, 2021. Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 497—512. URL: https://pearl-prod.plymouth.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10026.1/18512/TPSS-Vol14n2_497-512Aldrich.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Accessed 09.09.2024).
3. Anastasiou C., Baumann O., Yamamoto N. Does path integration contribute to human navigation in large-scale space? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2022. Vol. 30, pp. 822—842. DOI:10.3758/s13423-022-02216-8
4. Kiryakova R., Aston S., Beierholm U.R., Nardini М. Bayesian transfer in a complex spatial localization task. Journal of Vision, 2020. Vol. 20, no. 6. 19 p. DOI:10.1167/jov.20.6.17
5. Negen J., Ali L.B., Chere B., Roome H.E., Park Y., Nardini M. Coding locations relative to one or many landmarks in childhood. PLoS Computational Biology, 2019. Vol. 15, no. 10, article ID e1007380. 25 p. DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007380
6. Dahm S.F., Muraki E.J., Pexman P.M. Hand and foot selection in mental body rotations involves motor-cognitive interactions. Brain Sciences, 2022. Vol. 12, no. 11, article ID 1500. 16 p. DOI:10.3390/brainsci12111500
7. Van Hoogmoed A.H., Wegman J., van den Brink D., Janzen G. Development of Landmark Use for Navigation in Children: Effects of Age, Sex, Working Memory and Landmark Type. Brain Sciences, 2022. Vol. 12, no. 6, article ID 776. 18 p. DOI:10.3390/brainsci12060776
8. Nardini M., Burgess N., Breckenridge K., Atkinson J. Differential developmental trajectories for egocentric, environmental and intrinsic frames of reference in spatial memory. Cognition, 2006. Vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 153—172. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2005.09.005
9. Ferguson H.J., Apperly I., Cane J.E. Eye tracking reveals the cost of switching between self and other perspectives in a visual perspective-taking task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2017. Vol. 70, no. 8, pp. 1646—1660. DOI:10.1080/17470218.2016.1199716
10. Fernandez-Baizan С., Arias J.L., Mendez М. Egocentric and allocentric spatial memory in young children: A comparison with young adults. Infant and Child Development, 2021. Vol. 30, no. 2, article ID e2216. 15 p. DOI:10.1002/icd.2216
11. Flavell J.H. Cognitive monitoring. In Dickson W.P. (ed.), Children’s oral communication skills. New York: Academic Press, 1981, pp. 35—60.
12. Gunalp P., Moossaian T., Hegarty M. Spatial perspective taking: Effects of social, directional, and interactive cues. Memory & Cognition, 2019. Vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 1031—1043. DOI:10.3758/s13421-019-00910-y
13. Hu Q., Fu Y., Shao Y. Young children’s representation of locations in a series: a front-back representation or an ordinal representation? Frontiers in Psychology, 2020. Vol. 11, article ID 1327. 6 p. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01327
14. Huttenlocher J., Presson С.С. Mental rotation and the perspective problem. Cognitive Psychology, 1973. Vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 277—299. DOI:10.1016/0010-0285(73)90015-7
15. Huttenlocher J., Vasilyeva М. How toddlers represent enclosed spaces. Cognitive Science, 2003. Vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 749—766. DOI:10.1016/S0364-0213(03)00062-4
16. Becu M., Sheynikhovich D., Ramanoel S., Tatur G., Ozier-Lafontaine A., Authie C.N., Sahel J.-A., Arleo A. Landmark-based spatial navigation across the human lifespan. eLife, 2023. Vol. 12, article ID e81318. 24 p. DOI:10.7554/eLife.81318
17. Li W., Hu Q., Shao Y. Separation of geometric and featural information in children’s spatial representation: Evidence from a model selection task. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2022. Vol. 213, article ID 105272. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105272
18. Lourenco S.F., Addy D., Huttenlocher J. Location representation in enclosed spaces: What type of information afford young children an advantage? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2009. Vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 313—325. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2009.05.007
19. Lourenco S.F., Frick A. Remembering where: The origins and early development of spatial memory. In Bauer P.J., Fivush R. (eds.), The handbook of children’s memory development. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, pp. 367—393.
20. Mastrogiuseppe M., Gianni E., Lee S.A. Does a row of objects comprise a boundary? How children miss the forest for the trees in spatial navigation. Developmental Psychology, 2023. Vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 2397—2407. DOI:10.1037/dev0001638
21. May М. Imaginal perspective switches in remembered environments: Transformation versus interference accounts. Cognitive Psychology, 2004. Vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 163—206. DOI:10.1016/S0010-0285(03)00127-0
22. May M., Klatzky R.L. Path integration while ignoring irrelevant movement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 2000. Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 169—186. DOI:10.1037/0278-7393.26.1.169
23. Michelon P., Zacks J.M. Two kinds of visual perspective taking. Perception & Psychophysics, 2006. Vol. 68, pp. 327—337. DOI:10.3758/BF03193680
24. Nardini М. Merging familiar and new senses to perceive and act in space. Cognitive processing, 2021. Vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 69—75. DOI:10.1007/s10339-021-01052-3
25. Negen J., Bird L.-A., Nardini M. An Adaptive Cue Selection Model of Allocentric Spatial Reorientation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2021. Vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 1409—1429. DOI:10.1037/xhp0000950
26. Newcombe N. Navigation and the developing brain. Journal of Experimental Biology, 2019. Vol. 222, no. 1, article ID 186460. 11 p. DOI:10.1242/jeb.186460
27. Newcombe N., Huttenlocher J., Learmonth A. Infants’ coding of location in continuous space. Infant Behavior and Development, 1999. Vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 483—510. DOI:10.1016/S0163-6383(00)00011-4
28. Newcombe N.S., Ratliff K.R. Explaining the development of spatial reorientation: Modularity-plus-language versus the emergence of adaptive combination. In Plumert J., Spencer J. (eds.), The Emerging Spatial Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. P. 53—76. DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195189223.003.0003
29. Newman P.M., McNamara T. Integration of visual landmark cues in spatial memory. Psychological Research, 2022. Vol. 86, pp. 1636—1654. DOI:10.1007/s00426-021-01581-8
30. Parsons L.M. Imagined Spatial Transformation of One's Body. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1987. Vol. 116, no. 2, pp. 172—191. DOI:10.1037//0096-3445.116.2.172
31. Harootonian S.K., Wilson R.C., Hejtmanek L., Ziskin E.M., Ekstrom A.D. Path integration in large-scale space and with novel geometries: Comparing vector addition and encoding-error models. PLoS Computational Biology, 2020. Vol. 16, no. 5, article ID e1007489. 28 p. DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007489
32. Ward E., Ganis G., McDonough K.L., Bach P. Perspective taking as virtual navigation? Perceptual simulation of what others see reflects their location in space but not their gaze. Cognition, 2020. Vol. 199, no. 3, article ID 104241. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104241
33. O'Grady С., Scott-Phillips T., Lavelle S., Smith K. Perspective-taking is spontaneous but not automatic. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2020. Vol. 73, no. 10, pp. 1605—1628. DOI:10.1177/1747021820942479
34. Piaget J., Inhelder B. The child's conception of space. London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1956. 490 p.
35. Presson C.C., Montello D.R. Updating after Rotational and Translational Body Movements: Coordinate Structure of Perspective Space. Perception, 1994. Vol. 23, no. 12, pp. 1447—1455. DOI:10.1068/p231447
36. Puls K., May M. Disentangling spatial conflicts in mental perspective taking. Acta Psychological, 2020. Vol. 207, article ID 103078. DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103078
37. Rieser J. Access to knowledge of spatial structure at novel points of observation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 1989. Vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 1157—1165. DOI:10.1037/0278-7393.15.6.1157
38. Sette P.D., Bindemann M., Ferguson H.J. Visual perspective-taking in complex natural scenes. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2022. Vol. 75, no. 8, pp. 1541—1551. DOI:10.1177/17470218211054474
39. Southgate V. Are infants altercentric? The other and the self in early social cognition. Psychological Review, 2019. Vol. 127, no. 4, pp. 505—523. DOI:10.1037/rev0000182
40. Zhou S., Yang H., Wang Y., Zhou X., Li S. Spontaneous visual perspective-taking with constant attention cue: A modified dot-perspective task paradigm. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 2023. Vol. 86, pp. 1176—1185. DOI:10.3758/s13414-023-02772-8
41. Newcombe N., Huttenlocher J., Drummey A.B., Wiley J.G. The development of spatial location coding: Place learning and dead reckoning in the second and third years. Cognitive Development, 1998. Vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 185—200. DOI:10.1016/S0885-2014(98)90038-7
42. Buckley M.G., Holden L.J., Smith A.D., Haselgrove M. The Developmental trajectories of children’s reorientation to global and local properties of environmental geometry. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2022. Vol. 153, no. 4, pp. 889—912. DOI:10.1037/xge0001265
43. Negen J., Bird L.-A., King E., Nardini M. The Difficulty of Effectively Using Allocentric Prior Information in a Spatial Recall Task. Scientific Reports, 2020. Vol. 10, article ID 7000. 10 p. DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-62775-5
44. Vasilyeva M., Bowers E. Children’s use of geometric information in mapping tasks. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2006. Vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 255—277. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2006.05.001
45. Zanchi S., Cuturi L.F., Sandini G., Gori M., Ferre E.R. Vestibular contribution to spatial encoding. European Journal of Neuroscience, 2023. Vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 4034—4042. DOI:10.1111/ejn.16146
46. Ward E., Ganis G., Bach P. Spontaneous vicarious perception of the content of another’s visual perspective. Current Biology, 2019. Vol. 29, pp. 874—880. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.046
47. Zhang Q., Liang Z., Zhang T., Wang C., Wang T. Working memory capacity, mental rotation, and visual perspective taking: A study of the developmental cascade hypothesis. Memory & Cognition, 2022. Vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 1432—1442. DOI:10.3758/s13421-021-01272-0
48. Yang Y., Li W., Wang Q. How well do 5- to 7- year-old children remember the spatial structure of a room? Journal of Cognition and Development, 2022. Vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 385—410. DOI:10.1080/15248372.2022.2025809
49. Hu Q., Zhang M., Shao Y., Feng G. Young children's representation of geometric relationships between locations in location coding. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2019. Vol. 189, article ID 104703. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104703