Spatial Thinking in Term and Preterm-Born Preschoolers: Relations to Parent–Child Speech and Gesture

Sam Clingan-Siverly; Paige M. Nelson; Tilbe Göksun; Ö. Ece Demir-Lira

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651678

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Spatial Thinking in Term and Preterm-Born Preschoolers: Relations to Parent–Child Speech and Gesture

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Spatial Thinking in Term and Preterm-Born Preschoolers: Relations to Parent–Child Speech and Gesture

Sam Clingan-Siverly, Paige M. Nelson, Tilbe Göksun and Ö. Ece Demir-Lira

Frontiers in psychology, Vol.12, 651678

04/01/2021

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651678

PMCID: PMC8103033

PMID: 33967912

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Abstract

Spatial skills predict important life outcomes, such as mathematical achievement or entrance into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Children significantly vary in their spatial performance even before they enter formal schooling. One correlate of children's spatial performance is the spatial language they produce and hear from others, such as their parents. Because the emphasis has been on spatial language, less is known about the role of hand gestures in children's spatial development. Some children are more likely to fall behind in their spatial skills than others. Children born premature (gestational age <37 weeks) constitute such a risk group. Here, we compared performance of term and preterm-born children on two non-verbal spatial tasks—mental transformation and block design. We also examined relations of children's performance on these tasks to parental spatial language and gesture input and their own production of spatial language and gesture during an independent puzzle play interaction. We found that while term and preterm-born children (n = 40) as a group did not differ in the mental transformation or block design performance, children varied widely in their performance within each group. The variability in mental transformation scores was predicted by both a subset of spatial words (what aspects of spatial information) and all spatial gestures children produced. Children's spatial language and gesture were in turn related to their parents' spatial language and gesture. Parental spatial language and gesture had an indirect relation on children's mental transformation, but not block design, scores via children's spatial language, and gesture use. Overall, results highlight the unique contributions of speech and gesture in communicating spatial information and predicting children's spatial performance.

prematurity

mental transformation

spatial thinking

children

gesture

parent–child interactions

Details

Title: Subtitle: Spatial Thinking in Term and Preterm-Born Preschoolers: Relations to Parent–Child Speech and Gesture
Creators: Sam Clingan-Siverly - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa, IA, United States
Paige M. Nelson - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa, IA, United States
Tilbe Göksun - Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
Ö. Ece Demir-Lira - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa, IA, United States
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Frontiers in psychology, Vol.12, 651678
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651678
PMID: 33967912
PMCID: PMC8103033
NLM abbreviation: Front Psychol
ISSN: 1664-1078
eISSN: 1664-1078
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/100000913, name: James S. McDonnell Foundation
Language: English
Date published: 04/01/2021
Academic Unit: Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Center for Social Science Innovation
Record Identifier: 9984071695202771

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