Abstract
Spatial perspective taking consists of two processes: (1) imagination of body movement to another vantage point in three-dimensional space, and (2) other cognitive information processing. Most previous research has not separated these processes adequately. Thus, it is not clear when and how imagination of body movement develops. A video game task was devised to evaluate the response time between stimulus presentations and responses from each vantage point and the theoretical response time to rotate a body image to a 180-degree position. A hundred healthy individuals between the ages of 3 to 21 were participants (five age groups of 20 people each). Response times and numbers of correct responses on all nine trials, for each participant of each age group (inclusive of information processing functions other than imagination of body movement), confirmed that developmental change was accelerated between 6- and 13-year old groups. The theoretical response times suggested that imagining of body movements continues to develop until adulthood. These results are important for our understanding of both embodied spatial cognition and executive functions for spatial perspective taking.
