Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nora S. Newcombe
Temple University
Tool Making
Everyday Life
Reasoning and Communication
Graphs and diagrams
Inference
Analogy
Metaphor
Performance in STEM Disciplines
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Engineering
Mathematics
Geoscience
Predicting B.A. Degree Areas
From Shea, Lubinski & Benbow (2001)
What We Still Need
Do improvements in spatial skill translate
into greater STEM interest and ability?
How important are any such effects?
Do such effects reduce sex- and SES-based
differences in STEM participation?
How do such effects compare with other
influences, e.g., work-family conflicts?
Does early spatial skill relate to early
STEM learning?
Four Arguments
Spatial intelligence and learning are
important
Spatial intelligence and learning can
be improved
There are sex-linked and SES-linked
differences in spatial intelligence--
addressing these differences is
important for social equity
Spatial intelligence and learning are
critically under-studied
Specific educational techniques to
foster spatial intelligence are within
our grasp
Especially Important For Girls
40
35
30
25
Boys
20
Girls
15
Frequency 10
5
0
80
80
Percentage Correct
Percentage Correct
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
Chance Chance
20 20
Low Middle High Low Middle High
SES SES
60
50
40
30
20
High Middle Low
SES
Some Prior Reasons To Believe in
Malleability
Effects of practice and training
Baenninger & Newcombe (1989)
Effects of simple instructions
Ward, Newcombe & Overton (1986)
School effects
Huttenlocher, Levine & Vevea (1998)
New Data on Malleability
New meta-analysis supports large training
effects, as well as durability and transfer
Liu, Uttal, Marulis, Lewis, Warren, & Newcombe,
under review
David Uttal will present this later on
Two specific recent studies on improvement that
is durable and transferable
Terlecki, Newcombe & Little (Applied Cognitive
Psychology, 2008)
Wright, Thompson, Ganis, Newcombe & Kosslyn
(Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2008)
Five Questions about Improvement
in Mental Rotation Skills
What is the shape of long-term growth
trajectories?
Does videogame training have effects exceeding
simple practice?
Do growth trajectories differ for men and women,
and for individuals of higher or lower spatial
experience?
Are practice and training effects durable?
Do practice and training transfer, and is transfer
durable?
Training
One hour per week for a semester
Tetris or Solitaire
Weekly MRT administration
Time Course of Improvement
Terlecki, Newcombe & Little, 2008
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
MRT Score
12
11 Practice
10
9 Training
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Weeks
Time Course of Improvement
Terlecki, Newcombe & Little, 2008
20
18
16
14
MRT Score
12 High M
10 High W
8 Low W
6
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Weeks
Improvement is Durable
Terlecki, Newcombe & Little, 2008
20
18
16
14
MRT Score
12 Practice
10 Training
2
Pretest Posttest Retake
Transfer is Durable and
Tetris Augments Transfer
Terlecki, Newcombe & Little, 2008
0.9
0.8
0.7
Transfer Task % Correct
0.6
0.5 Practice
0.4 Training
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Pretest Posttest Retake
Five New Aims
Training intensive enough to produce large gains but
shorter than a semester
Novel stimuli: to assess stimulus-specific versus general
effects
Symmetric look at transfer: A to B and also B to A
Non-spatial task to make sure transfer is spatially-specific
Componential analysis: intercept versus slope effects
Three Tasks
Training
21 consecutive
days, about 20
minutes per day
Either MRT or
Paper Folding
Transfer Across Spatial Tasks
Wright, Thompson, Ganis, Newcombe & Kosslyn,
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2008
Transfer Across Spatial Tasks
Wright, Thompson, Ganis, Newcombe & Kosslyn,
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2008
Goals for New Training Studies
Delineate mechanisms of improvement and possible
additivity of methods
Allowing for tailored recommendations about sequencing
and aptitude-treatment interactions
Tim Shipley will present progress report on an adult study of this
kind
How should we best enhance spatial learning in
children?
Methods that are more play, less work
Gesture, puzzle play, paper folding, block play
Training in different SES groups
More Goals
What are the neural correlates of improvements?
Do they provide clues as to mechanism?
How do we improve way finding skills?
Is there far transfer from visualization to way
finding and vice versa?
(Again) What are the implications of improvements
for STEM learning?
Different at various ages?
Different for different disciplines or sub-areas?
Four Arguments
Spatial intelligence and learning are important
Spatial intelligence and learning can be
improved
There are sex-linked and SES-linked differences in
spatial intelligence--addressing these differences is
important for social equity
Spatial intelligence and learning are critically
under-studied
Specific educational techniques to foster spatial
intelligence are within our grasp
Spatial Framework
Two spatial frames
Object (internal relations that define shape)
Scene (external relations that define relations
among objects)
Two temporal properties
Static (unchanging relations)
Dynamic (changing relations)
The 2 by 2 Framework
Object Scene
Static
Dynamic
One Application of the Framework:
Language
Object Scene
Static
Noun Preposition
Dynamic
Way to think about neural bases of spatial coding
Anjan Chatterjee will talk about this later
Dynamic Representations:
Mental Transformations May Be
Formally But Not Psychologically
Equivalent
Rotate object (or array) vs move viewer
Dynamic Scene
Representations
Navigation can be guided by
Egocentric coding
Allocentric coding
Landmarks/place learning
Gradients such as slope
Daniele Nardi will present
39
Morris Water Maze
40
Morris Water Maze
Room Cue
Room Cue 3
Room Cue
41
The Emergence of Place
Learning
Considerable evidence, from a wide variety of
techniques, that place learning depends on
hippocampus
Animal studies: e.g., Morris, Garrud, Rawlins, &
O’Keefe (1982)
Human studies: e.g., Holdstock et al. (2000)
44
Morris Water Maze for Kids
45
Balcomb & Newcombe
Subjects
Children aged 16-24 months
Materials
10’ diameter carpeted circle divided
into quadrants
Battery operated puzzle
Task
Locate puzzle hidden under carpet
46
47
cueA cueB
cueC
cueD
48
Procedures
Familiarization
Learning
4 trials to learn the puzzle’s location
Different points of entry
Test
Same as learning trials
No puzzle
Control
Control for motivation & walking speed
Puzzle clearly visible
49
Results
Age correlates with
# times goal found: r(24)=.58, p=.001
Expressive language: r(24)=.73, p=.0001
Partial out age
No correlation between # times goal found
and expressive language r(26)=.15, p=.47
50
More Detailed Analyses
Search types
Spatial (perimeter, correct quadrant)
Non-spatial (under self, other, unrelated)
Language
Nouns, verbs, preps, total language, relational
language
Peripheral Searches (proximal cue use)
cueA cueB
cueC
cueD
Correct Quadrant Search (distal cue use = place learning)
cueA cueB
cueC
cueD
Non-spatial searches
cueA cueB
cueC
cueD
Spatial Results
100%
90%
80%
70%
30%
20%
10%
0%
16-18 19-21 22-24
Age
Space and Language
Intercorrelations between language and spatial searches
1
25
2
20 3
4
Instances of spatial 15 5
6
talk in one hour of 10 7
coded tape 8
5
9
0 10
1 11
12
13
And Input is Correlated with
Children’s Spatial Growth
(Levine & Huttenlocher)
25
20
15
spatial input
10
0
-0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
change in chidlren's spatial scores
Play Contexts
Guided Play
Parental Spatial Language in
Four Contexts
Proportion of Parental Spatial Language
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
Pre-assembled Free Play Guided Play CHILDES
Play Control
Session 1 Session 2
How Do We Accelerate Pace and
Scope of Study of These Issues?
Spatial Network at
www.spatiallearning.org
Resources at same URL
Sian Beilock is coordinating
Gatherings like this one!
Thanks to Danny Edelson and the NGS
Four Arguments
Spatial intelligence and learning are important
Spatial intelligence and learning can be
improved
There are sex-linked and SES-linked differences in
spatial intelligence--addressing these differences is
important for social equity
Spatial intelligence and learning are critically
under-studied
Specific educational techniques to foster spatial
intelligence are within our grasp