Abstract

CALDERON GUERRERO, Gabriela  and  LOZADA NAVA, Lidia. Conceptualization of Space: Language and Cognitive Egocentrism. Psicumex [online]. 2020, vol.10, n.1, pp.75-91.  Epub Dec 09, 2020. ISSN 2007-5936.  https://doi.org/10.36793/psicumex.v10i1.331.

This study analyzes the performance of a task in which participants described (linguistic expression) the location of a series of objects to another person. This requires a spatial conceptualization capable of simultaneously considering different perspectives. It was also important to determine the existence of different action patterns by age groups. Participants were 60 monolingual Mexican children and adolescents from public schools. Three groups were formed: group 1 (9-10 years old), group 2 (11-12 years old) and group 3 (13-14 years old). The research consisted of two phases: a) diagnostic phase to determine the inclusion of participants and b) experimental situation based on the task “Description of the scene”. Results: group 3 showed a more complex spatial conceptualization, reflected in linguistic expressions that use deictics from coordinate and non-coordinate reference systems, which improves the communicability efficiency of the spatial location. The behavior of this group was thus significantly different from groups 1 and 2, which suggests a developmental process (action patterns by age group) regarding the overcoming of spatial cognitive egocentrism. Studies of this type can provide information that enables didactic decisions at school and in formal and informal educational contexts regarding spatial training.

Keywords : spatial conceptualization; cognitive egocentrism; linguistic expression; development; action patterns.