Spatial Cognitive Development

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the development of the behavioral and cortical systems that mediate basic spatial cognitive functions. The review of spatial development is organized around the convenient neuroanatomical dissociation between functions associated with the dorsal and ventral visuospatial streams. The first part of the chapter considers the development of spatial processes associated with the dorsal, or “where,” system, focusing principally on spatial localization and spatial attention. The second part considers the ventral, or “what,” system and focuses on the analysis of spatial patterns. The discussion of each spatial cognitive function begins with an overview of the adult profile of cognitive-neural mediation. Patterns of development and change in both the behavioral profiles and in the neural substrate are then considered in light of the adult model.