Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy.
Cognition. 2012 Apr;123(1):144-61. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.12.015. Epub 2012 Jan 16.
Geometry is one of the highest achievements of our species, but its foundations are obscure. Consistent with longstanding suggestions that geometrical knowledge is rooted in processes guiding navigation, the present study examines potential sources of geometrical knowledge in the navigation processes by which young children establish their sense of orientation. Past research reveals that children reorient both by the shape of the surface layout and the shapes of distinctive landmarks, but it fails to clarify what shape properties children use. The present study explores 2-year-old children's sensitivity to angle, length, distance and direction by testing disoriented children's search in a variety of fragmented rhombic and rectangular environments. Children reoriented themselves in accord with surface distances and directions, but they failed to use surface lengths or corner angles either for directional reorientation or as local landmarks. Thus, navigating children navigate by some but not all of the abstract properties captured by formal Euclidean geometry. While navigation systems may contribute to children's developing geometric understanding, they likely are not the sole source of abstract geometric intuitions.
几何是人类最高的成就之一，但它的基础却很模糊。长期以来一直有人认为，几何知识是基于指导导航的过程，本研究通过研究儿童建立方向感的导航过程，考察了几何知识的潜在来源。过去的研究表明，儿童通过表面布局的形状和独特地标物的形状来重新定位，但未能阐明儿童使用什么形状属性。本研究通过在各种碎片化的菱形和矩形环境中测试迷失方向的儿童的搜索，探索了 2 岁儿童对角度、长度、距离和方向的敏感性。儿童根据表面距离和方向重新定位自己，但他们既没有将表面长度也没有将角落角度用于方向重新定位或作为局部地标。因此，导航儿童通过形式欧几里得几何捕捉的一些但不是所有的抽象属性进行导航。虽然导航系统可能有助于儿童发展几何理解，但它们可能不是抽象几何直觉的唯一来源。
