Using a simple change detection task involving vertical and horizontal stimuli, I. M. Thornton and D. Fernandez-Duque (2000) showed that the implicit detection of a change in the orientation of an item influences performance in a subsequent orientation judgment task. However, S. R. Mitroff, D. J. Simons, and S. L. Franconeri (2002) were not able…

Recently, knowledge of the mechanisms of visual-spatial attention has improved due to studies employing single cell recording with alert monkeys and studies using performance analysis of neurological patients. These studies suggest that a complex neural network including parts of the posterior parietal lobe and midbrain are involved in covert…

This series of activities on spatial relationships was designed to help users acquire the skills of spatial visualization and orientation and to improve their effectiveness in applying those skills. The series contains an introduction to spatial orientation with several self-directed activities to help improve that skill. It also contains seven…

The significance of spatial factors on an initial segmentation and an active attentional phase was demonstrated by briefly exposing spatial configurations of elements, and then asking the subjects to reproduce the patterns or to search them for a target letter. The stimulus displays consisted of small o's forming different spatial configurations,…

Two experiments using varying duration exposures related reading skill in adults to initial encoding of location information. Results suggest that the role of perception in reading has been underestimated because emphasis has been on item perception, not perception of spatial location. (Author/CP)

An 18-item "Shortened Visuospatial Questionnaire" (SVS) was validated twice, first by verifying that children (ages 8-13) identified with the SVS questionnaire as having visuospatial learning disability (VSLD) (n=54) actually showed visuospatial deficits on psychometric evaluation, and second, by rating with the SVS a clinically identified…

Visual-spatial orienting in 10 high-functioning adults with autism was examined. Compared to controls, subjects responded faster to central than to lateral stimuli, and showed a left visual field advantage for stimulus detection only when laterally presented. Abnormalities in attention shifting and coordination of attentional and motor systems are…

Two authors introduce the topic of visualization in mathematics education. Fourteen articles are briefly described. (YP)

Assessed ability to perceive the distance at which an object is within reach. Results support early development of spatial decentralization and perspective taking, that is, allocentrism. (ETB)

Three experiments examined infants' perceptions of their own leg movements as presented to them via online video that varied the spatial orientation and directionality of movement. The infants looked significantly longer and generated significantly more leg activity while looking at the view displaying a left-right inversion than while looking at…

Investigated the effect of computer programs that require the use of spatial skills on third and fourth graders' spatial ability. Students who used a software program that required rotation of objects scored better than other students on a measure of figural classification, but not on a measure of object rotation. (BC)

The reaction times, movement times, and final accuracy of hand movements of 6, 8, and 10 year olds that were directed toward visual goals were measured by means of tasks in which direction and amplitude components of movement were required. (RH)

Investigates the difference between children's drawings from two- and three-dimensional models, specifically, the influence of color and line, the difference between multicolor and monochrome material, and gender differences. Finds that children's drawings present detailed information about the subject first, then simple proportions, and finally…

Aspects of cognitive processing were evaluated for 462 adolescents followed for 14 years. Adolescents had been exposed prenatally to a broad range of maternal drinking, mostly at "social" levels. Alcohol-related deficits on cognitive tasks were summarized by a speed-accuracy trade-off on the spatial-visual reasoning task. (SLD)

A study compared 11 Italian children (ages 7-11) with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD) to 49 controls on four tasks requiring visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. Results found the children with NVLD showed deficits in the use of visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. (Author/CR)