Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-mnklg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T09:26:09.230Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Children Navigate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Christopher Spencer and
Mark Blades
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper by Spencer and Blades, both of the Department of Psychology in the University of Sheffield, was presented on 14 March 1984 at an Institute meeting held in London to discuss Psychology and Navigation.

From its earliest moments, the young organism has a need to track and integrate into some scheme of knowledge the location of salient objects and places; and thence to develop navigational strategies for efficient movement through space. In the case of human young, their initially limited mobility constrains the extent of their active explorations, and thus their range of experience; and adult protectiveness (somewhat heightened in the modern, suburban nuclear family setting) continues to limit such explorations even when the child is fully capable of extensive movement round the local area (Pick and Acredolo, 1983).

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 1985, pp. 445 - 453
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Acredolo, L. P., (1983). Spatial orientation in infancy: role of body, landmarks and location. Paper presented to Interamerican Congress of Psychology, Quito, Ecuador.Google Scholar
Acredolo, L. P., Pick, H. and Olsen, M., (1975). Environmental differentiation and familiarity as determinants of children's memory for spatial locations. Devi. Psychol. 11, 495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, T. and Lynch, K., (1977). On people and places: a comparative study of the spatial environment of adolescence. Town Plan. Rev. 48, 105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biel, A. (1982). Children's spatial representation of their neighbourhood. J. Environ. Psychol. 2, 192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blades, M. and Spencer, C. P., (1985). Map use by pre-school children. Geography (in the press).Google Scholar
Blaut, J. M. and Stea, D. (1971). Studies in geographical learning. Ann. Assoc. Am. Geog. 61, 387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böök, A. and Gärling, T. (1980a). Processing of information about locomotion: effects of a concurrent task. Scand. J. Psychol. 21, 185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böök, A. and Gärling, T. (1980b). Processing of information about locomotion: effects of amount of visual information. Percept. Motor Skills 51, 231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Böök, A. and Gärling, T. (1981). Maintenance of orientation during locomotion in unfamiliar environments. J. Exp. Psychol: Human Percept, and Perf. 7, 995.Google ScholarPubMed
Catling, S. (1979). Maps and cognitive maps. Geography 64, 288.Google Scholar
Evans, G. W. (1980). Environmental cognition. Psychol. Bull. 88, 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladwin, T. (1970). East is a Big Bird. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, R. (1978). Children's Experience of Place. New York: Irvington Press.Google Scholar
Klüppel, J. (1979) Kleuters Onderweg. Wageningen: Landbouwhogeschool.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. H. (1976). Observations on route finding and spatial orientation among the aboriginal peoples of the Western Desert Region of Central Australia. Oceania 56, 249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liben, L. S. (1982). Children's large-scale spatial cognition. In Children's Conceptions of Spatial Relationships (ed. Cohen, R.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Moore, R. and Young, D. (1978). Children outdoors: towards a social ecology of the'landscape. In Children and the Environment (ed. Altman, I. and Wohlwill, J. F.) New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1965). The Child's Conception of Space. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pick, H. L. and Acredolo, L. C. (eds) (1983). Spatial Orientation in Natural and Experimental Settings. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poag, C. K., Cohen, R. and Weatherford, D. L. (1983). Spatial representations of young children: the role of self versus adult directed movement and viewing. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 35. 172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rieser, J. J., Doxey, P. A., McCarrell, N. S. and Brooks, P. M. (1982). Wayfinding and toddlers' use of information from an aerial view of a maze. Devi. Psychol. 18, 714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, C. P. and Darvizeh, Z. (1981a). The case for developing a cognitive environmental psychology that does not underestimate the abilities of young children. J. Environ. Psychol. 1, 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, C. P. and Darvizeh, Z. (1981b). Young children's descriptions of their local environment. Environ. Educ. and Inf. 1, 275.Google Scholar
Spencer, C. P. and Darvizeh, Z. (1984). The importance of landmarks in the child's wayfinding through the large-scale environment. Environ. Educ. and Inf. 3, 97.Google Scholar
Spencer, C. P. and Dixon, J. (1983). Mapping the development of feelings about the city. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. N.S. 8, 373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, C. P., Harrison, N. and Darvizeh, Z. (1980). The development of iconic mapping ability in young children. Int. J. Early Childhood, 1257.Google Scholar
Spencer, C. P., Mitchell, S. and Wisdom, J. (1984). Evaluating environmental education in nursery and primary schools. Environ. Educ. and Inf. 3, 16.Google Scholar
Spencer, C. P. and Weetman, M. (1981). The microgenesis of cognitive maps: a longitudinal study of new residents of an urban area. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. N.S. 6, 375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorndyke, P. W. and Hayes-Roth, B. (1982). Differences in spatial knowledge acquired from maps and navigation. Cogn. Psychol. 14, 560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ward, C. (1977). The Child in the City. London: Architectural Press.Google Scholar