Spatial Naming Test

The Spatial Naming Test (SNT) was developed as a brief screening instrument designed to assess naming abilities for static and dynamic spatial relations between objects. It was designed as an analogue of existing picture confrontation naming tests for objects (e.g., the Boston Naming Test, BNT; Kaplan et al., 2001; for a description see Section 5.2.3.4, for sample items see Figure A in the Appendix) and actions (e.g., the Action Naming Test, ANT; Obler & Albert, 1979; for a description see Section 5.2.3.4, for sample items see Figure B in the Appendix). The stimuli of the SNT consisted of line drawings of simple geometrical shapes (Figure 2; see Table A in the Appendix for all items of the SNT), with a red ball as the located object and an open cube as the reference object (or more cubes when necessary, as in cases of between, in the middle, among). Black balls were also depicted in order to create a set of different spatial relations, in an attempt to elicit the most suitable response for the target spatial relation in a way that is distinguishable from the non-target relations.

The SNT was designed to tap geometry-based relations, excluding functionality-based relationships between objects (also see Chapter 1). Therefore, geometrical shapes were deliberately chosen instead of everyday concrete objects in order to avoid biased responses based on typical descriptions of commonly encountered spatial relationships (e.g., “the cat is on the mat”). Furthermore, the use of abstract geometric objects excludes language-specific merely conventionalized descriptions of spatial relations, as in “the bird is in the tree” or “the fly is on the ceiling”, or the difference between “being in the car” versus “being on the bus”, or “the food in the dish” versus “the food on the plate”, or “sitting in the armchair” versus “sitting on the sofa”, and so on and so forth.

Each target item of the SNT corresponded to a single English spatial preposition or prepositional phrase, although in some cases more than one preposition was appropriate (e.g., under, underneath, below). As mention earlier (Section 2.1), depending on the context, spatial prepositions may have concrete locative and/or directional meanings (Zwarts, 1997; 2005). When used in descriptions of static spatial relations to denote locations, they have a locative meaning (e.g., “The cat is on the mat”). In descriptions of dynamic spatial relations

32 they are used to denote paths, i.e., sequences of locations / changes of positions (e.g., “The cat jumped onto the table”), having a directional meaning. Consequently, the test was divided into two parts: Part A consisted of 15 pictures containing static spatial relations, requiring the description of locations (see Figure 2, panels A and B); Part B consisted of 15 pictures containing dynamic spatial relations, requiring the description of the change of locations (see Figure 1, panels C and D).

Figure 2. Stimuli samples of the Spatial Naming Test across static (A: near; B: on) and dynamic (C: into; D: through) spatial relations.

Procedure. At the outset of each part, participants are given one example trial [one locative (i.e., The red ball is to the left of the cube) and one directional (i.e., The red ball is moving to the left), not used as test items]. Next, they are shown 30 test items (Table A in the Appendix), one at a time. In each test item, participants are asked to describe as accurately as possible the location (Part A) or the change of location (Part B), respectively, of the located object (red ball) in relation to the reference object (cube) in a way that identifies its location

A _B

33 uniquely, distinguishing it from the black balls’ location. Respondents are explicitly

instructed to base their responses from their viewpoint, and they are encouraged to use spatial prepositions. If necessary, they are instructed to avoid using a clock face system (e.g., The red ball is at three o’clock) or compass directions (e.g., The red ball is North of the cube). However, there is no constraint on the number of prepositions that they could use to describe the relation. Responses are recorded verbatim.

Scoring. Optimal responses are scored one point (e.g., into for the relation depicted in Figure 2C), whereas a less accurate but not incorrect response is scored as a half point (e.g., towards for the relation depicted in Figure 2C). Table 2 contains a non-exhaustive list of acceptable responses and their scores. The number of correct responses given in each part is calculated as an index of naming accuracy. There are no time limits in the SNT, but time to complete each part of the test may be recorded optionally as an index of naming speed.

Table 2. General Scoring of Acceptable Responses in the Spatial Naming Test Score

Test item 1 point ½ point

Part A – Static spatial relations A1 In; inside; within A2 (Τo the) right (of) A3 On; on top (of)

A4 Above; over Up high from the cube

A5 Behind; back of

A6 Under; underneath; beneath; below A7 Below; under; underneath; beneath A8 In front (of)

A9 Far; far left; furthest left; away; distant left A10 Near; near left; nearer; close(r) to

A11 Next to; beside; alongside; adjacent to; by the side; touching the left side; attached to the left side; adjoining the left side

Near; nearer; nearest close, closer, closest)

A12 Between; in the middle; in the centre A13 Among; amongst

A14 In the middle; in the centre

A15 Opposite of; in front on the other side Right in front; in front Part B – Dynamic spatial relations

B1 Down; downwards B2 Up; upwards

B3 Right

B4 Across; right all along Right

B5 Into; towards inside Towards; at

B6 Out of; outside of Away from

34 B8 Around; round; circling

B9 Over; above

B10 Under; underneath; beneath; below B11 Through

B12 Onto; on top Over and up

B13 Down of; off of; away from the top of From the top of B14 Along; past; parallel to; across the front;

across right to left

Left in front of; right to left of

B15 Towards the side; to the side; next to; beside Towards; to; at; near