Spatial Heuristics and Random Spatial Exploration: Children, Adults and the Machine Coloring-in Places in The Grid Game

Christiane Lange-Küttner^1*Jörg Beringer²

• ¹University of Bremen, Bremen, Bremen, Germany
• ²BeriSoft Inc., Redwood City, CA 94061, United States

This study investigates the longstanding research topic of the development of the space concept in children using a competitive, interactive, online, zero-sum game that required players to use monochromatic electronic paint to complete coloring-in places until an entire 10x10 grid was filled, taking turns with the computer player. Children and adults and their opponent machine players were 4- to 5-year-olds (n = 26), 6- to 7-year-olds (n = 32), 8- to 10-year-olds (n = 52), and adults (n = 48). The human players colored places in the grid in yellow, the machine player in green. While human players could follow their own spatial heuristics, the machine system player was programmed to color-in at random anywhere in the grid. Neighboring places could visually merge into pathways or areas. Children explored the array somewhat less than adults, but both explored it less than the machine which randomly colored-in places across the entire array. Both children and adults and machine players created one large area and many smaller ones. Their one large area left a large swath of the spatial array empty. This space was then filled by the machine player with random places which merged into a slightly smaller large area, but many larger small areas. Hence, a similar outcome was achieved regardless of whether spatial concepts or random spatial explorations were devised. The use of spatial heuristics was demonstrated with correlational analyses where long pathways and short-distance moves were significantly correlated with the largest area, but not in their machine opponents.