Egocentric spatial language uses coordinates in relation to our body to talk about small-scale space ('put the knife on the right of the plate and the fork on the left'), while geocentric spatial language uses geographic coordinates ('put the knife to the east, and the fork to the west'). How do children learn to use geocentric language? And why do geocentric spatial references sound strange in English when they are standard practice in other languages? This book studies child development in Bali, India, Nepal, and Switzerland and explores how children learn to use a geocentric frame both when speaking and performing non-verbal cognitive tasks (such as remembering locations and directions). The authors examine how these skills develop with age, look at the socio-cultural contexts in which the learning takes place, and explore the ecological, cultural, social, and linguistic conditions that favor the use of a geocentric frame of reference.

Egocentric spatial language uses coordinates in relation to our body to talk about small-scale space ('put the knife on the right of the plate and the fork on the left'), while geocentric spatial language uses geographic coordinates ('put the knife to the east, and the fork to the west'). How do children learn to use geocentric language? And why do geocentric spatial references sound strange in English when they are standard practice in other languages? This book studies child development in Bali, India, Nepal, and Switzerland and explores how children learn to use a geocentric frame both when speaking and performing non-verbal cognitive tasks (such as remembering locations and directions). The authors examine how these skills develop with age, look at the socio-cultural contexts in which the learning takes place, and explore the ecological, cultural, social, and linguistic conditions that favor the use of a geocentric frame of reference.

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This book presents recent research on the role of space as a mechanism in language use and learning. Experimental psychologists, computer scientists, robotocists, linguists, and researchers in child language consider the nature and applications of this research and its implications for understanding the processes involved in language acquisition.

First published in 1985. The present book represents a statement of the state of the art in a very important aspect of spatial cognition, its development.

How does the spatial mind develop? In this book, Jodie Plumert and John Spencer bring together the leading researchers from the field of spatial cognitive development to examine how the spatial mind emerges from its humble origins in infancy and becomes its mature, flexible, and skilled adult form. The work presented sheds light on how the emerging spatial mind is fostered and shaped over time by our experiences of thinking about and interacting in the space around us. Each chapter presents cutting-edge research and theory that addresses the two pivotal questions of what changes in the spatial mind, and how these changes come about. The authors provide both conceptual and formal theoretical accounts of developmental process at multiple levels of analysis--genes, neurons, behaviors, social interactions--creating a contemporary overview of the general mechanisms of cognitive change. Commentary chapters show how the developmental advances discussed in these accounts fit into our understanding of not only spatial cognitive development, but also spatial cognition more generally.