Re-assessing the evidence for mental rotation abilities in children using computational models
There is strong and diverse evidence for mental rotation (MR) abilities in adults. However, current evidence for MR in children rests on just a few behavioral paradigms adapted from the adult literature. Here, we leverage recent computational models of the development of children's object recognition abilities to re-assess the evidence for MR in children. The computational models simulate infants' acquisition of object representations during embodied interactions with objects. We consider two different object recognition strategies, different from MRs, and assess their ability to replicate results from three classical MR tasks assigned to children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. Our results show that MR may play no role in producing the results obtained from children younger than 5 years. In fact, we find that a simple recognition strategy that reflects a pixel-wise comparison of stimuli is sufficient to model children's behavior in the most used MR task. Thus, our study reopens the debate on how and when children develop genuine MR abilities.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Tasks
Object RecognitionSimilar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
LEVANTE-bench: Multi-Scale Comparison of VLMs to Children Using Cognitive Tasks (or, "Is Your VLM Smarter Than a 5th Grader?")
Given the inherently multimodal nature of human experience, vision-language models (VLMs) hold substantial promise for modeling human cognition as it grows and develops with experience. Realizing their potential requires…
Comparing Machines and Children: Using Developmental Psychology Experiments to Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of LaMDA Responses
Developmental psychologists have spent decades devising experiments to test the intelligence and knowledge of infants and children, tracing the origin of crucial concepts and capacities. Moreover, experimental techniques…
Action UnderstandingLanguage ModellingLarge Language ModelValidating the Effectiveness of a Large Language Model-based Approach for Identifying Children's Development across Various Free Play Settings in Kindergarten
Free play is a fundamental aspect of early childhood education, supporting children's cognitive, social, emotional, and motor development. However, assessing children's development during free play poses significant chal…
Language ModelingLanguage ModellingLarge Language ModelAssessing the Spatial Structure of the Association between Attendance at Preschool and Childrens Developmental Vulnerabilities in Queensland Australia
The research explores the influence of preschool attendance (one year before full-time school) on the development of children during their first year of school. Using data collected by the Australian Early Development Ce…
Children's Intelligence Tests Pose Challenges for MLLMs? KidGym: A 2D Grid-Based Reasoning Benchmark for MLLMs
Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) combine the linguistic strengths of LLMs with the ability to process multimodal data, enbaling them to address a broader range of visual tasks. Because MLLMs aim at more general, …