Nora S. Newcombe - Böcker

Understanding the development of spatial skills is important for improving overall success in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields (e.g., Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). Children use spatial skills to understand the world and can practice them via spatial assembly activities like puzzles or blocks. These skills have been linked to success in subjects like mathematics (Mix & Cheng, 2012) and science (Pallrand & Seeber, 1984; Pribyl & Bodner, 1987). This monograph sought to answer four questions about early spatial development: 1) Can we reliably measure spatial skills in 3- and 4-year-olds?; 2) Do spatial skills measured at 3 predict spatial skills at age 5?; 3) Do preschool spatial skills predict mathematics skills at age 5?; and 4) What factors contribute to individual differences in preschool spatial skills (e.g., SES, gender, fine-motor skills, vocabulary, and executive function)? Longitudinal data generated from a new spatial skill test for 3-year-old children, called the TOSA (Test of Spatial Assembly), show that it is a reliable and valid measure of early spatial skills that provides strong prediction to spatial skills measured with established tests at age 5. New data using this measure finds links between early spatial skill and mathematics, language, and executive function skills. Analyses suggest that preschool spatial experiences may play a central role in early mathematical skills. Executive function skills further predict mathematical performance and individual differences, specifically socio economic status, are related to spatial and mathematical skill. We conclude by exploring ways of providing rich early spatial experiences.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference, Spatial Cognition 2020, held in Riga, Latvia, in September 2020.

This open access book presents a multidisciplinary synthesis of research on animal navigation, integrating perspectives from behavior, neuroscience, and ecology to advance understanding of how animals orient and move within their environments.Successful navigation is essential for survival. How animals move through complex landscapes, cross vast oceans, or traverse barren deserts has long intrigued scientists. For over a century, research has sought to uncover the mechanisms that enable such remarkable feats. The knowledge gained has far-reaching implications—from enhancing mobility and independence in aging populations to shaping the design of advanced navigational technologies.In the past decade, rapid advances in computational methods have fueled a surge in behavioral and neural data, placing the study of navigation at the forefront of scientific progress. Yet, significant challenges persist. Fragmentation across disciplines and levels of analysis has hindered integration, and the sheer volume of findings makes synthesis difficult.To confront these challenges, the Ernst Strüngmann Forum brought together experts from diverse fields to integrate research on biological navigation. This volume presents the outcomes of that multidisciplinary exchange, integrating perspectives across behavioral, cellular, circuit, and systems levels, and spanning species, environments, and individual differences. It delineates unifying principles and frameworks to guide future research on navigation across taxa, developmental stages, and descriptive levels, and outlines agendas to advance the field.