Browsing by Author "Liu, Irene"

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    Development of topographical orientation skills in seven to ten year old children
    (2017) Liu, Irene; Iaria, Giuseppe; Graham, Susan; MacMaster, Frank; Drefs, Michelle; Uttal, David; Iaria, Giuseppe
    In this dissertation, I investigated children’s development of topographical orientation skills. Specifically, I examined children’s performance on a navigation task in a virtual museum. In Chapter 2, I described the methodology used in this experiment. The computer task comprised of an interactive game that consisted of three sections: a practice motor task, a guided tour around a virtual museum, and a testing phase. After children were introduced to the environment, they were required to navigate from one location of the museum to a goal location as quickly as possible. Game performance was assessed by how much time and travel distance were required to reach a target location. In order to assess different cognitive domains supporting topographical orientation skills, a neuropsychological battery was administered. Finally, both children and parents completed self-rated questionnaires of the children’s general spatial behaviours. In Chapter 3, the main experimental results were described. Game performance was significantly correlated with age and several neuropsychological measures with emphasis on visual spatial processing. Game performance was also correlated with history of gaming experience and technology use. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that game performance was best explained by performance on spatial working memory and visual-spatial organization tasks, once video game experience was accounted for. Only children’s self-reported ratings of their spatial orientation and navigation skills were correlated with one of two measures of game performance, whereas parents’ ratings were not. When compared to adult performance on the computer game, even the oldest group of children tested was still not as efficient as adults in solving the task, suggesting that development of topographical orientation skills continue well into adolescence and young adulthood. Chapter 4 summarized and explored the aforementioned findings in greater detail. Additional statistical analyses and discussion regarding the pilot study, a group of children who participated in a repeat session of the computer game, and a group of younger children tested are described in Appendix B.
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    The Emergence of Cognitive Maps for Spatial Navigation in 7- to 10-Year-Old Children
    (Society for Research In Child Development, 2019-07-08) Burles, Ford; Liu, Irene; Hart, Chelsie; Murias, Kara; Graham, Susan; Iaria, Giuseppe
    Although much is known about adults' ability to orient by means of cognitive maps (mental representations of the environment), it is less clear when this important ability emerges in development. In the present study, 97 seven- to 10-year-olds and 26 adults played a video game designed to investigate the ability to orient using cognitive maps. The game required participants to reach target locations as quickly as possible, necessitating the identification and use of novel shortcuts. Seven- and 8-year-olds were less effective than older children and adults in using shortcuts. These findings provide clear evidence of a distinct developmental change around 9 years of age when children begin to proficiently orient and navigate using cognitive maps.