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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

ABSTRACT: Our research explored the structure of childhood visual play preferences, and examined different types of visual play in relation to individual differences in visualization and aptitudes in academic specializations requiring visualization skills. Principal component analysis dissociated visual-object play (e.g., exploring drawing media or decorative crafts) from visual-spatial play (e.g., assembling and disassembling mechanisms or playing with construction toys) preferences. Moreover, visual play preferences were dissociated from verbal play preferences (e.g., vocabulary games or making up stories). The structure of visual play preferences was consistent with object and spatial dimensions of individual differences in visualization. Visual-object and visual-spatial dimensions of play preferences were differentially related to measures of object visualization (processing pictorial appearances in terms of shape, texture, and color) versus spatial visualization (processing spatial relationships and spatial manipulations), as well as to aptitudes in artistic versus scientific domains. Furthermore, our research sheds new light on sex differences in play behavior: Previous studies commonly associated gender-specific play with visual versus verbal-social processing; our research demonstrated sex differences in play preferences across the two dimensions of visual play, where females preferred visual-object and males preferred visual-spatial play. Moreover, we found the object vs. spatial structure of visual play preferences was largely the same in both sexes, suggesting that differences in visual play preferences cannot be reduced to sex differences. Also, our questionnaire assessing visual-object, visual-spatial and verbal play preferences, developed for research purposes, demonstrated good reliability. Its two scales, assessing visual-object and visual-spatial play preferences, discriminatively correlated with assessments of individual differences in object and spatial visualization, respectively. This research creates a basis for further creation of comprehensive measures of visual play preferences, and should stimulate future studies examining visual play preferences and how they may create developmental opportunities for skills and preferences lasting into adulthood.

SUBMITTER: Blazhenkova O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292923 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

Blazhenkova Olesya O Booth Robert W RW

Heliyon 20200610 6

Our research explored the structure of childhood visual play preferences, and examined different types of visual play in relation to individual differences in visualization and aptitudes in academic specializations requiring visualization skills. Principal component analysis dissociated visual-object play (e.g., exploring drawing media or decorative crafts) from visual-spatial play (e.g., assembling and disassembling mechanisms or playing with construction toys) preferences. Moreover, visual pla ...[more]

PMID: 32551373

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Project description:BackgroundAnyone who has ever found themselves lost while driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood or forgotten where they parked their car can appreciate the importance of being able to navigate their environment. Navigation, or wayfinding, is a large-scale spatial ability that involves keeping track of the relative positions of objects and features in space, which allows for determining the path to a goal location. Early experiences shape spatial skill development, and research finds sex differences in spatial behaviors from preschool through adulthood, with males consistently outperforming females. The basis for sex differences in spatial aptitude is still debated, but explanations include differences in childhood spatial experience, the use of strategies for solving large-scale spatial problems, and spatial anxiety. The current study seeks to understand childhood wayfinding factors that may influence sex and individual differences in wayfinding strategies and wayfinding anxiety in adulthood.MethodOne hundred fifty-nine undergraduate psychology students reported their childhood wayfinding experience (i.e., time spent outside, distance traveled), current use of wayfinding strategies (i.e., route strategy, orientation strategy), and current wayfinding anxiety and general anxiety levels.ResultsIndependent samples t tests revealed that, compared with females, males reported spending more time outside and traveling farther distances as children, having less current wayfinding anxiety and route strategy use, and having more current orientation strategy use. Mediation analyses found that distance traveled, but not time spent outdoors, during childhood mediated sex differences in route strategy use and wayfinding anxiety in adults, even when controlling for general anxiety. Furthermore, when controlling for participant sex and general anxiety, current wayfinding anxiety mediated the relationship between distance traveled during childhood and route strategy use in adults.ConclusionThe current findings provide potential environmental explanations for sex and individual differences in large-scale spatial behaviors, including wayfinding. Specifically, sex differences in early wayfinding experience may explain why males and females develop different strategies for navigating and different levels of wayfinding anxiety. Furthermore, regardless of sex, allowing children to explore and navigate their outdoor environments away from home may help lessen their fears about navigating and, in turn, improve the strategies they choose to traverse unfamiliar territories.

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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

Publications

Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

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