Developmental Differences in Giving Directions: Spatial Frames of Reference and Mental Rotation

The spatial referents "left" and "right" are one of the most common means for specifying direction and location, yet little is known about the processes that underlie the use of these concepts. Two studies tested the hypothesis that children and adults who correctly identify left-right directions from nonoccupied orientations perform imagined rotations to align the self's frame of reference with the other's. Children who make incorrect judgments from nonoccupied orientations were hypothesized to use a stationary egocentric reference frame. 28 6- and 8-year-old children and 9 adults were tested on a task that required making left-right direction judgments from various rotated orientations. The results supported the mental rotation hypothesis: Only correct responders showed a linear increase in response time with increasing angular disparity between the self and other. Mental rotation permits the continued use of an egocentric reference frame for specifying left-right relations from nonoccupied positions.