Preschoolers’ Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language

It is now online the published version of the Article “ Preschoolers’ Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language**”**by Marco Giancola, Maria Chiara Pino, Valentina Riccio, Laura Piccardi and Simonetta D’Amico published in Children.

In the present study 56 typically developing 4- to 6-year-old children performed perceptual analogical reasoning and map reading. Results indicated that perceptual abstract reasoning affected map reading through the mediating effect of spatial language. These findings yielded theoretical and practical implications regarding the role of perceptual abstract reasoning and spatial language in shaping map-reading abilities in the early stages of life, highlighting that domain-specific language competencies are necessary to improve the encoding of spatial relations, to establish object correspondences, and to ensure successful navigation.