@article{7562e314e3a841e58e50f3bec3c7454c,
title = "Euclid's Random Walk: Developmental Changes in the Use of Simulation for Geometric Reasoning",
abstract = "Euclidean geometry has formed the foundation of architecture, science, and technology for millennia, yet the development of human's intuitive reasoning about Euclidean geometry is not well understood. The present study explores the cognitive processes and representations that support the development of humans' intuitive reasoning about Euclidean geometry. One-hundred-twenty-five 7- to 12-year-old children and 30 adults completed a localization task in which they visually extrapolated missing parts of fragmented planar triangles and a reasoning task in which they answered verbal questions about the general properties of planar triangles. While basic Euclidean principles guided even young children's visual extrapolations, only older children and adults reasoned about triangles in ways that were consistent with Euclidean geometry. Moreover, a relation beteen visual extrapolation and reasoning appeared only in older children and adults. Reasoning consistent with Euclidean geometry may thus emerge when children abandon incorrect, axiomatic-based reasoning strategies and come to reason using mental simulations of visual extrapolations.",
author = "Yuval Hart and L. Mahadevan and Dillon, {Moira R.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (DRL-1845924; to M. R. D.), a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Fellowship (to M. R. D.), a SEED Award from the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at New York University (to M. R. D.), and the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard University (to Y. H. and L. M.). We thank Ofelia Garcia, Holly Huey, Emily Schwartz, Ana{\"i}s Kessler, Nicole Loncar, Brian Reilly, the National Museum of Mathematics, and the museum's participating visitors. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: This work was supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (DRL‐1845924; to M. R. D.), a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Fellowship (to M. R. D.), a SEED Award from the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at New York University (to M. R. D.), and the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard University (to Y. H. and L. M.). We thank Ofelia Garcia, Holly Huey, Emily Schwartz, Ana{\"i}s Kessler, Nicole Loncar, Brian Reilly, the National Museum of Mathematics, and the museum's participating visitors. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Cognitive Science Society LLC",
year = "2022",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1111/cogs.13070",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "46",
journal = "Cognitive Science",
issn = "0364-0213",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "1",
}