Test of a relationship between spatial working memory and perception of symmetry axes in children 3 to 6 years of age

Children’s memory responses to a target location in a homogenous space change from being biased toward the midline of the space to being biased away. According to Dynamic Field Theory (DFT), improvement in the perception of the midline symmetry axis contributes to this transition. Simulations of DFT using a 3-year-old parameter setting showed that memory biases at intermediate target locations were related to the perception of midline. Empirical results indicated that better perception of midline was associated with greater memory biases away at the 20° and 40° targets in 3-year-olds, and greater biases away at 60º in 4- to 6-year-olds. Findings support the DFT in that perception of midline is associated with memory biases.