Preschool children's ability to coordinate spatial perspectives through language and pictures.

To determine preschool children's ability to utilize language in spatial problem solving, 64 children (equal numbers of boys and girls, 3- and 4-year-olds) were asked to identify another's view either verbally or by picture selection. The results indicate that verbalization leads to substantially more correct responses and girls were significantly better than boys across both response modes. The results imply that, despite the claims of several theorists, linguistic processes are accessible for problem solving at an early age.