TY - JOUR
T1 - Object recognition and location
T2 - Which component of object location memory for landmarks is affected by gender? Evidence from four to ten year-old children
AU - Bocchi, Alessia
AU - Palermo, Liana
AU - Boccia, Maddalena
AU - Palmiero, Massimiliano
AU - D'Amico, Simonetta
AU - Piccardi, Laura
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Memory for object location requires at least three processes: object recognition, object location, and object-location binding. Gender-related differences during childhood are still a matter of debate, especially concerning memory for object location, where females are expected to outperform males. Memory for object position is pivotal for spatial navigation and its investigation during childhood is crucial in order to understand the roots of gender-related differences in spatial orientation. Actually, environmental objects, namely landmarks, can be located using egocentric and/or allocentric frames of references, as well as using the spatial translation between them. Here, we investigated gender-related differences during childhood in object recognition and location whenever a shift between egocentric and allocentric frame of reference is required. Sixty-three boys and 44 girls (aged between four and ten years old) were asked to egocentrically learn a path on the Walking Corsi Test enriched with three landmarks. Then, children were asked to recognize (object recognition) the landmarks encountered along the path and locate them (object location) on an allocentric configuration of the spatial array. Girls outperformed boys in locating landmarks, whereas no difference occurred in landmark recognition. These results provide insights into the gender-related differences in location memory of landmarks, suggesting that females are better than males in the object location component well before the age of 13.
AB - Memory for object location requires at least three processes: object recognition, object location, and object-location binding. Gender-related differences during childhood are still a matter of debate, especially concerning memory for object location, where females are expected to outperform males. Memory for object position is pivotal for spatial navigation and its investigation during childhood is crucial in order to understand the roots of gender-related differences in spatial orientation. Actually, environmental objects, namely landmarks, can be located using egocentric and/or allocentric frames of references, as well as using the spatial translation between them. Here, we investigated gender-related differences during childhood in object recognition and location whenever a shift between egocentric and allocentric frame of reference is required. Sixty-three boys and 44 girls (aged between four and ten years old) were asked to egocentrically learn a path on the Walking Corsi Test enriched with three landmarks. Then, children were asked to recognize (object recognition) the landmarks encountered along the path and locate them (object location) on an allocentric configuration of the spatial array. Girls outperformed boys in locating landmarks, whereas no difference occurred in landmark recognition. These results provide insights into the gender-related differences in location memory of landmarks, suggesting that females are better than males in the object location component well before the age of 13.
KW - Landmarks
KW - object location memory
KW - reference frames
KW - sex differences
KW - spatial navigation
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U2 - 10.1080/21622965.2018.1504218
DO - 10.1080/21622965.2018.1504218
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055620911
JO - Applied Neuropsychology: Child
JF - Applied Neuropsychology: Child
SN - 2162-2965
ER -