At Alphablocks Research Lab, we are dedicated to advancing our understanding of early childhood learning and development. We are excited to share insights from our latest study, “Feeling the Distance: The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Spatial Ability in Childhood,” recently published in the leading journal Development and Psychopathology. This collaborative research by Prof. Eirini Flouri of the UCL Institute of Education and our Director, Dr Dimitris Tsomokos, sheds new light on how children’s spatial skills intertwine with their ability to regulate emotions, and vice versa. In this post, we describe the main findings of this study and discuss their implications for early years education.
The Interplay Between Spatial Ability and Emotion Regulation
Emotion regulation is a crucial aspect of every child’s development, influencing their social interactions, academic performance, and overall health and well-being. Previous experimental studies have demonstrated that when children use language to create a sense of distance—be it social, physical, or temporal—from a challenging or potentially traumatic experience, they can effectively reduce the impact of negative emotions associated with it. This cognitive distancing allows them to process experiences with less emotional overwhelm.
Building upon this understanding, our study was motivated by the question: Are children with better spatial abilities more adept at regulating their emotions (possibly because they grasp and use the concept of distance more effectively)?
Key Findings from the Study
Using data from a general-population birth cohort in the UK, we examined children at ages 5 and 7 years to investigate the relationship between spatial ability and emotional dysregulation. There were three key findings.
- Bidirectional Relationship: There is a significant reciprocal association between spatial skills and emotion regulation. In the first direction, children with stronger spatial abilities at age 5 exhibited fewer signs of emotional dysregulation at age 7.
- Emotion Regulation to Spatial Ability: Conversely, in the opposite direction of that relation, children who displayed greater emotion regulation at age 5 tended to have better spatial abilities by age 7.
- Independence from Other Factors: These relationships held true even after accounting for various family, environmental, and individual factors, including a child’s verbal ability (a crucial indicator of emotion regulation and broader cognitive ability). In other words, these reciprocal associations could not be explained by accounting for other important factors, such as parental education and household income or the area in which the family lived, among other factors.
Implications for Early Years Education
These findings have important implications for educators in early years settings and parents or carers of young children:
- Integrating Spatial Reasoning Activities: Incorporate games and activities that enhance spatial reasoning, such as puzzles, building blocks, and outdoor play that highlights distances to goals, obstacles, or other people.
- Storytelling with Spatial Elements: Use stories that involve journeys or maps, encouraging children to think about space and movement.
- Promoting Cognitive Distancing Techniques during storytime: Highlight instances where the protagonist had to stop and take a ‘step back’ to reassess a situation or perspective. This could also involve imagining a scene from afar or discussing the protagonist’s feelings (in the third person).
- Mindfulness and Visualization: Incorporate mindfulness exercises that include visualizing spaces or distances, helping children practice spatial visualization and cognitive distancing.
- Construction Area: Integrate more deeply into the curriculum construction activities, and have a dedicated area where these can be accessed (resourced with blocks of various sizes, for instance). Engage children in group activities that require planning and constructing, fostering spatial reasoning and social-emotional skills at the same time.
Looking Ahead
Our study underscores the importance of considering cognitive skills like spatial ability as integral to a child’s emotional development. By recognizing this connection, educators and caregivers can support children in developing both the cognitive tools and emotional strategies they need to navigate the world more confidently.
You can access the study (for free) through this link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/feeling-the-distance-the-relationship-between-emotion-regulation-and-spatial-ability-in-childhood/7FD78878DDCA5953D53DBEE115CC652A#