Effects of Sex, Age, Reading Ability, Socioeconomic Level, and Display Position on a Measure of Spatial Relations in Children

Abstract

A modification of Fleishman's (1957) Response Orientation Device was given to 192 children in Grades K to 3. The predominant perceptual response of younger children decreased with age with a concomitant increase in responses to spatial relations based on an external reference point. Socioeconomic level (as represented by school) and reading group assignment, but not sex, interacted with age and were positively related to spatial development. Display alignment had a limited effect on the type of response made. The results were interpreted in terms of Piaget and Inhelder's (1956) theory of spatial development.