title: Cultural and biological factors modulate spatial biases over development.
abstract: Increasing evidence supports the contribution of both biological and cultural factors to visuospatial processing. The present study adds to the literature by exploring the interplay of perceptual and linguistic mechanisms in determining visuospatial asymmetries in adults (Experiment 1) and children (Experiment 2). In particular, pre-schoolers (3 and 5 year-olds), school-aged children (8 year-old), and adult participants were required to bisect different types of stimuli, that is, lines, words, and figure strings. In accordance with the literature, results yielded a leftward bias for lines and words and a rightward bias for figure strings, in adult participants. More critically, different biases were found for lines, words, and figure strings in children as a function of age, reflecting the impact of both cultural and biological factors on the processing of different visuospatial materials. Specifically, an adult-like pattern of results emerged only in the older group of children (8 year-old), but not in pre-schoolers. Results are discussed in terms of literacy, reading habits exposure, and biological maturation.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University Milano-Bicocca , Milano , Italy.|b NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience , Milano , Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Girelli
authors.affiliation: c Department of History, Society and Human Studies, Lab. of Applied Psychology and Intervention , University of Salento , Lecce , Italy.|d IRCSS Santa Lucia , Roma , Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara Valeria
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Marinelli
authors.affiliation: e Department of Human Science , Lumsa University , Roma , Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grossi
authors.affiliation: e Department of Human Science , Lumsa University , Roma , Italy.|f Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies-CNR , Roma , Italy.
authors.forename: Lisa S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Arduino
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011581:Psychological Tests; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011932:Reading; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bisection task; children; reading habits; visuospatial asymmetries