The RelationshipbetweenNutritionalStatus and AllocentricOrientationin31-36-Months-Old Toddlers
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2020-06-12
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en
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Abstract
Poor dietaryqualityandobesityhavebeenlinkedtoimpairedcognitiveabilities,includingspatial
orientation. Spatialorientationcanbeachievedeitherviaegocentricorientation(usingone’s
ownbodyastheprimaryreferenceframe)orallocentricorientation(usingspatialrelationship
between objectsastheprimaryreferenceframe).Allocentricorientationisamoreadvanced
skill thanegocentricorientation.Previousstudiesshowthat30-month-oldtoddlersareunableto
use allocentricorientation,while35-month-oldtoddlersare.Here,weinvestigatedifferencesin
allocentric orientationabilitiesinasample(N=23)of31-36-month-oldtoddlersusingapreviously
established virtualrealityparadigm.Wethenrelatedallocentricorientationabilitiestonutritional
status, measuredasacompoundscoreofBodyMassIndex(BMI)anddietaryquality.Arepeated
measures ANOVAwithageandnutritionalstatusascovariatesandtrialtype(egocentricvs
allocentric) asthewithin-subjectsfactor,revealednosignificantmaineffectsofageornutritional
status ontaskperformance.Albeitthelackofsignificanceoftheseeffects,theirassociatedeffect
size wasofmediummagnitude,indicatingthatsignificancemaynothavebeenreachedduetothe
small sample(N=23).Follow-upexploratoryanalysesindicatedthatallocentricorientationabilities
increase withage.Nutritionalstatuswasalsostrongly,albeitnon-significantly,positivelyrelated
to allocentrictaskperformance.Thisrelationwasmostlydrivenbydietaryquality,ratherthanby
BMI. Giventhesmallsamplesizeandthelackofsignificanceoftheresultsfound,thetrendsfound
should betreatedasexploratoryandshouldbereplicatedbyfuture,betterpoweredstudies.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen