Examining the Relationship Between Visual Imagery Vividness and Visuospatial Cognition in 5-9-year-old Children

Visuospatial skills support achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), therefore, understanding the cognitive factors that contribute to these skills is important for supporting children’s academic success. One cognitive factor contributing to visuospatial skills is visual mental imagery, or the ability to picture an image in one’s “mind’s eye”. Research with adults shows that people with more vivid visual mental imagery tend to perform better on tests of visuospatial cognition, but little is known about children’s visual imaginations and how they may support important skills such as mental rotation, map scanning, or visuospatial memory. This project tests the hypothesis that individual differences in children’s visual imagery vividness relate to their visuospatial abilities. This project examines individual differences in vividness of visual imagery and their relation to visuospatial cognitive skills in children ages 5 to 9 years old by (1) developing and validating a novel visual imagery vividness measure appropriate for children, and (2) using this new measure to assess how individual differences in vividness relate to different visuospatial cognitive skills, including measures of mental manipulation of visuospatial information and measures of visuospatial working memory. Analyses examine the extent to which variability in visual imagery vividness contributes to variability in visuospatial cognition skills across early development. This project aims to advance understanding the development of visuospatial cognitive skills that are important for academic success in STEM. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2614762 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Melissa Kibbe | Institution: Trustees of Boston University, BOSTON, MA | Award Amount: $528,600 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2614762 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2614762.html