Collaborative Research: Differing Interpretations of Young Children's Geometric Skills

过去二十年的研究表明，包括鱼类、鸟类、非人类哺乳动物和人类在内的各种动物物种都对封闭空间的几何特性具有强烈的敏感性（例如，限定外壳的壁的相对长度）。在迷失方向后，他们利用这些信息重新建立空间方向（Cheng，1986; Hermer Spelke，1996;有关综述，请参见Cheng Newcombe，出版中）。此外，有人认为，这种几何处理构成了一个专门的认知模块，通常是无法穿透的非几何信息（成，1986年;赫尔默Spelke，1996年），与信息的组合，只有通过使用语言（Spelke赫尔默，1996年）成为可能。这些关于几何加工及其所谓的模块性的发现令关注认知结构、比较认知、认知发展和语言在行为中的作用的广大研究人员感到兴奋。它们与关于知识在多大程度上是天生的或环境可塑性的激烈辩论的问题有关。家长、教育工作者和决策者对正确理解发展的本质有着切身的利害关系，但与这些建议有关的重要问题仍未解决。这项研究将解决两个领域的争议。首先，几何敏感性的性质尚不清楚。我们将回答两个问题：几何编码如何与观看者位置的表示相关，以及关于空间的边的长度的信息是以绝对的方式（作为测量距离的某种心理等价物）还是以相对的方式（作为一些长度简单地长于或短于其他长度）被保留。第二，几何信息被封装的说法和相关的想法，地标不整合与几何信息，除非语言被用来连接认知模块是值得怀疑的。另一种解释认为，几何信息和特征信息通常是以某种方式整合的，这种方式取决于各种信息在特定情况下的相对有用性。本研究项目将对比这些帐户。

Research over the past two decades has revealed that a wide variety of animal species, including fish, birds, non-human mammals and humans, share a powerful sensitivity to the geometric properties of enclosing spaces (e.g., the relative length of walls defining enclosures). They use such information to reestablish spatial orientation after being disoriented (Cheng, 1986; Hermer & Spelke, 1996; for a review, see Cheng & Newcombe, in press). Further, it has been suggested that such geometric processing constitutes a specialized cognitive module that is normally impenetrable to nongeometric information (Cheng, 1986; Hermer & Spelke, 1996), with combination of information only made possible by use of language (Spelke & Hermer, 1996). These findings on geometric processing and its purported modularity have been exciting to a wide audience of researchers focused on cognitive architecture, comparative cognition, cognitive development, and the role of language in behavior. They are relevant to the hotly-debated issues concerning the extent to which knowledge is innate or environmentally plastic. Parents, educators and policy makers have a stake in accurate understanding of the nature of development.Vital issues concerning these proposals remain unsettled, however. This research will address controversy in two areas. First, the nature of geometric sensitivity is not yet clear. We will address two questions: how geometric coding is related to representations of viewer position, and whether information about the lengths of the sides of a space is retained in an absolute way (as some mental equivalent of a measured distance) or in a relative fashion (as some lengths being simply longer or shorter than others). Second, there is doubt about the claim that geometric information is encapsulated and the associated idea that landmarks are not integrated with geometric information unless language is used to link cognitive modules. An alternative account holds that geometric and featural information are normally integrated in a way that depends on the relative usefulness of various kinds of information in particular situations. This research project will contrast these accounts.