Space and Time in the Child’s Mind: Evidence for a Cross-Dimensional Asymmetry

  1. Daniel Casasanto1,
  2. Olga Fotakopoulou2,
  3. Lera Boroditsky3

Article first published online: 17 MAR 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01094.x

Issue

Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science

Volume 34, Issue 3, pages 387–405, April 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Casasanto, D., Fotakopoulou, O. and Boroditsky, L. (2010), Space and Time in the Child’s Mind: Evidence for a Cross-Dimensional Asymmetry. Cognitive Science, 34: 387–405. doi: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01094.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Donders Center for Cognition, Brain, & Behavior

  2. 2

    School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

  3. 3

    Department of Psychology, Stanford University

*should be sent to Daniel Casasanto, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Donders Center for Cognition, Brain, & Behavior, PO Box 310, 6500 AH Nijmegen, The Netherlands. E-mail: casasanto@alum.mit.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 17 MAR 2010
  2. Article first published online: 17 MAR 2010
  3. Received 25 April 2009; received in revised form 23 August 2009; accepted 17 September 2009

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Keywords:

  • ATOM;
  • Conceptual development;
  • Greek;
  • Metaphor;
  • Space;
  • Time

Abstract

What is the relationship between space and time in the human mind? Studies in adults show an asymmetric relationship between mental representations of these basic dimensions of experience: Representations of time depend on space more than representations of space depend on time. Here we investigated the relationship between space and time in the developing mind. Native Greek-speaking children watched movies of two animals traveling along parallel paths for different distances or durations and judged the spatial and temporal aspects of these events (e.g., Which animal went for a longer distance, or a longer time?). Results showed a reliable cross-dimensional asymmetry. For the same stimuli, spatial information influenced temporal judgments more than temporal information influenced spatial judgments. This pattern was robust to variations in the age of the participants and the type of linguistic framing used to elicit responses. This finding demonstrates a continuity between space-time representations in children and adults, and informs theories of analog magnitude representation.

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