Young children's spontaneous use of spatial frames of reference in a learning task

Abstract

Young children (3 to 6 years old) participated in two experiments on their spontaneous use of action-oriented, and place-oriented frames of reference in learning to find a hidden object. Under an exhaustive search procedure, the task was difficult in all frame of reference conditions for all but the oldest age group. When a limited search procedure was used, differences among frame of reference conditions were observed. Learning to respond on the basis of an action-oriented frame of reference was very difficult for 3- and 4-year-olds in this task setting.