title: The Early Construction of Spatial Attention: Culture, Space, and Gesture in Parent-Child Interactions.
abstract: American and Israeli toddler-caregiver dyads (mean age of toddler = 26 months) were presented with naturalistic tasks in which they must watch a short video (N = 97) or concoct a visual story together (N = 66). English-speaking American caregivers were more likely to use left to right spatial structuring than right to left, especially for well-ordered letters and numbers. Hebrew-speaking Israeli parents were more likely than Americans to use right to left spatial structuring, especially for letters. When constructing a pictorial narrative for their children, Americans were more likely to place pictures from left to right than Israelis. These spatial structure biases exhibited by caregivers are a potential route for the development of spatial biases in early childhood, before children have developed automatic reading and writing habits.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University.
authors.forename: Koleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCrink
authors.affiliation: Columbia University.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caldera
authors.affiliation: Ariel University of Samaria.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shaki
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City / Q000208:ethnology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011932:Reading; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014956:Writing