The Emerging Spatial Mind

How does the spatial mind develop? In this book, Jodie Plumert and John Spencer bring together the leading researchers from the field of spatial cognitive development to examine how the spatial mind emerges from its humble origins in infancy and becomes its mature, flexible, and skilled adult form. The work presented sheds light on how the emerging spatial mind is fostered and shaped over time by our experiences of thinking about and interacting in the space around us. Each chapter presents cutting-edge research and theory that addresses the two pivotal questions of what changes in the spatial mind, and how these changes come about. The authors provide both conceptual and formal theoretical accounts of developmental process at multiple levels of analysis--genes, neurons, behaviors, social interactions--creating a contemporary overview of the general mechanisms of cognitive change. Commentary chapters show how the developmental advances discussed in these accounts fit into our understanding of not only spatial cognitive development, but also spatial cognition more generally.