The Development of Human Navigation in Middle Childhood: A Narrative Review through Methods, Terminology, and Fundamental Stages

Abstract

Spatial orientation and navigation are fundamental abilities in daily life that develop gradually during childhood, although their development is still not clear. The main aim of the present narrative review was to trace the development of navigational skills in middle childhood (6 to 12 years old) by means of studies present in the literature. To this aim, this review took into account the terminology, methodologies, different paradigms, and apparatuses used to investigate egocentric self-centered and allocentric world-centered representations, besides the different types of spaces (reaching/small/large; physical/virtual). Furthermore, this review provided a brief description of the development of navigational strategies and competences in toddlers and preschool children (0–5 years). The main result of this review showed how middle childhood is a crucial period for the improvement and development of allocentric strategies, including metric information. In fact, during this developmental window, children learn to handle proximal and distal cues, to transpose paper and virtual information into real environments, up to performing similarly to adults. This narrative review could represent a starting point to better clarify the development of navigation and spatial orientation, finalized to trace a development curve useful to map normal development and to have a term of comparison to assess performance in atypical development.

Assessment of Wayfinding Performance in Complex Healthcare Facilities: A Conceptual Framework

“…There has been a class of theoretical propositions attempting to explain the stages in which spatial knowledge is developed. Two theories are considered the standouts in this regard, namely Piaget's theory, which investigated spatial development processes in children [50], and the theory of spatial knowledge acquisition by Siegel and White, which builds upon Piaget's theory to examine the same processes among adults especially in an unfamiliar environment [51]. Piaget's theory was mainly concerned with spatial knowledge as a means to understand the mechanisms in which this ability develops during one's lifetime.…”