Psychological Development and Education ›› 2018, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (5): 633-640.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2018.05.14

Previous Articles    

Impact and Its Mechanism of Language Cues on Spatial Relationship Representation

DOU Wenfei, HU Qingfen   

  1. Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Online:2018-09-15 Published:2018-10-25

PDF (PC)

Abstract: The acquisition of language has a profound impact on spatial cognition. In recent years, not only a large number of correlational studies have found a close relationship between language ability and spatial cognitive ability, but also experimental studies that try to reveal the impact of language on spatial representation directly. Experimental studies found that the effect of linguistic cues is significantly better than non-linguistic cues in a series of tasks involving different spatial relationships. Further analysis explains the mechanism of language advantage from the aspects of language coding features and its working process, which shows that language plays a role of selectivity and integration in the representation of space and the process is momentary. It is recommended that future research should focus more on the variation in the form of spatial tasks and language expressions, so as to fully reveal the role of language.

Key words: spatial relationship representation, language coding, selectivity and integration, linguistic relativity

CLC Number: 

  • B842
Ankowski, A. A., Thom, E. E., Sandhofer, C. M., & Blaisdell, A. P. (2012). Spatial language and children's spatial landmark use. Child Development Research, 2012, 1-14.
Brock, F., & Sandra, W. (2016). Linking language and categorization in infancy. Journal of Child Language, 44(3), 527-552.
Burigo, M., & Knoeferle, P. (2014). Visual attention during spatial language comprehension. Plos One, 10(1), e0115758.
Chatterjee, A. (2008). The neural organization of spatial thought and language. Seminars in Speech & Language, 29, 226-238.
Christie, S., & Gentner, D. (2013). Language helps children succeed on a classic analogy task. Cognitive Science, 38, 383-397.
Dessalegn, B., & Landau, B. (2008). More than meets the eye:the role of language in binding and maintaining feature conjunctions. Psychological Science, 19, 189-195.
Dessalegn, B., & Landau, B. (2013). Interaction between language and vision:it's momentary, abstract, and it develops. Cognition, 127, 331-344.
Farran, E. K., & O'Leary, B. (2016). Children's ability to bind and maintain colour-location conjunctions:the effect of spatial language cues. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 28, 44-51.
Feist, M. I., & Gentner, D. (2007). Spatial language influences memory for spatial scenes. Memory & Cognition, 35, 283-296.
Franconeri, S. L., Scimeca, J. M., Roth, J. C., Helseth, S. A., & Kahn, L. E. (2012). Flexible visual processing of spatial relationships. Cognition, 122, 210-222.
Frank, M. C., Everett, D. L., Fedorenko, E., & Gibson, E.(2008). Number as a cognitive technology:Evidence from Pirah? language and cognition. Cognition, 108, 819-824.
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. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
Gentner, D., Özyürek, A., Özge Gürcanli, & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2013). Spatial language facilitates spatial cognition:evidence from children who lack language input. Cognition, 127, 318-330.
Gilbert, A. L., Regier, T., Kay, P., & Ivry, R. B. (2006). Whorf hypothesis is supported in the right visual field but not the left. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 489-494.
Haun, D. B. M., Rapold, C. J., Janzen, G., & Levinson, S. C. (2011). Plasticity of human spatial cognition:Spatial language and cognition covary across cultures. Cognition, 119, 70-80.
Hermer, L., & Spelke, E. (1994). A geometric process for spatial reorientation in young children. Nature, 370, 57-59.
Hermer, L., & Spelke, E. (1996). Modularity and development:The case of spatial reorientation. Cognition, 61, 195-232.
Hermer-Vazquez, L., Moffet, A., & Munkholm, P. (2001). Language, space, and the development of cognitive flexibility in humans:the case of two spatial memory tasks. Cognition, 79, 263-299.
Hermer-Vasquez, L., Spelke, E. S., & Katsnelson, A. S. (1999). Sources of flexibility in humancognition:Dual-task studies of space and language. Cognitive Psychology, 39, 3-36.
Howe, M. L. (2011). The nature of early memory:an adaptive theory of the genesis and development of memory. Oxford:Oxford University Press.
Hyde, D. C., Winkler-Rhoades, N., Lee, S. A., Izard, V., Shapiro, K. A., & Spelke, E. S. (2011). Spatial and numerical abilities without a complete natural language. Neuropsychologia, 49, 924-936.
Hyun, J. S., Woodman, G. F., & Luck, S. J. (2009). The role of attention in the binding of surface features to locations. Vision Cognition, 17, 10-24.
Landau, B., Dessalegn, B., & Goldberg, A. M. (2010). Language and space:Momentary interactions. In P. Chilton & V. Evans (Eds.), Language, cognition, and space:The state of the art and new directions (pp. 51-78). London:Equinox Publishing.
Landau, B., & Lakusta, L. (2009). Spatial representation across species:geometry, language, and maps. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 19, 12-19.
Levinson, S. C. (2003). Space in language and cognition:Explorations in linguistic diversity. Cambridge, UK:Cambridge University Press.
Li, P., Abarbanell, L., Gleitman, L., & Papafragou, A. (2011). Spatial reasoning in Tenejapan Mayans. Cognition, 120, 33-53.
Loewenstein, J., & Gentner, D. (2005). Relational language and the development of relational mapping. Cognitive Psychology, 50, 315-353.
Luck, S. J., & Ford, M. A. (1998). On the role of selective attention in visual perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95, 825-830.
Lupyan, G. (2012). Linguistically modulated perception and cognition:the label-feedback hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 1-13.
Macwhinney, B., & O'Grady, W. (2015). Dynamic Systems and Language Development. The Handbook of Language Emergence. (pp. 537-556). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Majid, A., Bowerman, M., Kita, S., Haun, D. B. M., & Levinson, S. C. (2004). Can language restructure cognition? The case of space. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 108-114.
Miller, H. E., Patterson, R., & Simmering, V. R. (2016). Language supports young children's use of spatial relations to remember locations. Cognition, 150, 170-180.
Miller, H. E., & Simmering, V. R. (2018). Children's attention to task-relevant information accounts for relations between language and spatial cognition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 172, 107-129.
Miller, H. E., Vlach, H. A., & Simmering, V. R. (2017). Producing spatial words is not enough:Understanding the relation between language and spatial cognition. Child Development, 88, 1966-1982.
Mo, L., Xu, G., Kay, P., & Tan, L. H. (2011). Electrophysiological evidence for the left-lateralized effect of language on preattentive categorical perception of color. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 14026-14030.
Newcombe, N. S., & Huttenlocher, J. (2000). Making space:The development of spatial representation and reasoning. Cambridge, MA, USA:The MIT Press.
Polinsky, N., Perez, J., Grehl, M., & McCrink, K. (2017). Encouraging spatial talk:Using children's museums to bolster spatial reasoning:Spatial talk at children's museums. Mind, Brain, and Education, 11, 144-152.
Pruden, S. M., Levine, S. C., & Huttenlocher, J. (2011). Children's spatial thinking:does talk about the spatial world matter? Developmental Science, 14, 1417-1430.
Pyers, J. E., Shusterman, A., Senghas, A., Spelke, E. S., & Emmorey, K. (2010). From the cover:evidence from an emerging sign language reveals that language supports spatial cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107, 12116-12120.
Ratliff, K. R., & Newcombe, N. S. (2008). Is language necessary for human spatial reorientation? Reconsidering evidence from dual task paradigms. Cognitive Psychology, 56, 142-163.
Sang, A. L., & Spelke, E. S. (2010). Two systems of spatial representation underlying navigation. Experimental Brain Research, 206(2), 179-188.
Shusterman, A., Sang, A. L., & Spelke, E. S. (2011). Cognitive effects of language on human navigation. Cognition, 120, 186-201.
Shusterman, A., & Spelke, E. S. (2005). Language and the development of spatial reasoning. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind:Structure and Contents (pp. 89-108). Oxford:Oxford University Press.
Simms, N., & Gentner, D. (2008). Spatial language and landmark use:Can 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds find the middle? In B.C. Love, K. McRae, & V.M. Sloutsky (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the cognitive science society (pp. 191-196). Austin, TX:Cognitive Science Society.
Slobin, D. (2003). Language and thought online:Cognitive consequences of linguistic relativity. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.), Language in mind:Advances in the study of language and cognition. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
ünal, E., & Papafragou, A. (2016). Interactions between language and mental representations. Language Learning, 66, 554-580.
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.
Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality:Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. J. B. Carroll (Ed). Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
Wiener, J., Shettleworth, S., Bingman, V. P., Cheng, K., Healy, S., Jacobs, L. F., et al. (2011). Animal navigation:a synthesis. In:Menzel R, Fischer J (eds) Animal thinking:contemporary issues in comparative cognition. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M. C., Wu, L., Wade, A. R., & Boroditsky, L. (2007). Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 7780-7785.
Wolff, P., & Holmes, K. J. (2011). Linguistic relativity. WIREs Cognitive Science, 2, 253-256.
Xu, Y., Regier, T., & Newcombe, N. S. (2017). An adaptive cue combination model of human spatial reorientation. Cognition, 163, 56.
刘丽虹, 张积家, 王惠萍. (2005). 习惯的空间术语对空间认知的影响. 心理学报, 37, 469-475.
张积家, 刘丽虹. (2007). 习惯空间术语对空间认知的影响再探. 心理科学, 30, 359-361.
[1] XU Fen, ZOU Rong, MA Feng-ling, WU Ding-cheng. Automatic Processing of Undergraduate Students’ Trust Judgment based on Face [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2012, 28(5): 449-455.
[2] Lu Xiao-ying, Long Chang-quan, Sun Feng, Xing Dong-liang, Li Hong. The Influence of Induction in 3-year-olds [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2011, 27(1): 25-34.
[3] REN Xue-zhu, QIAN Ying-ji, LI Chun-hua, XU Fen. Relationships among Attention, Working memory, and Reasoning in Children [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2010, 26(4): 337-343.
[4] WU Jie, LIU Zhi-fang, HU Yan-wen. Old Adults’ Eye Movements when Processing Disappearing Chinese Text [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2009, 25(4): 63-67.
[5] ZHANG Feng-hua, QIU Jiang, YANG Qun, ZHANG Qing-lin. An Event-related Potential Study on Neural Basis of Transitive Inference [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2009, 25(4): 68-74.
[6] JIANG Yuan, SHEN De-li, BAI Xue-jun. The Relationship among Emotion,Emotion Regulation Strategy and Memory of Emotionl materials [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2009, 25(4): 75-80.
[7] . [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2009, 25(2): 116-120.
[8] WU Zhen-zhen, QIU Jiang, ZHANG Qing-lin. Exploring the Mechanism for Prototype Elicitation Effect in Insight [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2008, 24(1): 31-35.
[9] WANG Zhi, JIANG Qi, ZhANG Da-jun. A Study on Coding and Recognition of Internet Addicts [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2008, 24(1): 106-112.
[10] DAI Bin-rong, YIN Guo-en, YU Guo-liang. Eye Movement Researches into Effect of Stimuli Presenting Mode on Classification of Undergraduates and Pupils [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2007, 23(4): 63-67.
[11] BAI Xue-jun, LIU Hai-juan, SHEN De-li. The Experiment on FOK Judgment Development of Excellence Student and Inferior Student [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2006, 22(1): 18-22.
[12] LIANG Fu-cheng, WANG Xue-yan. Cognitive Event Related Potential P300 in Children Working Memory Development [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2006, 22(1): 29-34.
[13] . [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2006, 22(1): 122-126.
[14] JIANG Ying-jie, LI Guang, CHE Wen-bo, LIU Li. Developmental Characteristics of Meta-cognition in Non-English-Major Undergraduates’ English Composition [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2005, 21(2): 68-74.
[15] LI Hong. Assessing Psychological Well-being: Comparison between Self-esteem Scale and PAS & NAS [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2004, 20(2): 75-79.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd