Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Large-scale spatial abilities rely on the capacity to transform between abstract spatial representations, such as maps, and embodied experiences of space. However, assessing these abilities remains challenging due to a trade-off between experimental control and ecological validity. This challenge has gained renewed relevance in light of increasing cognitive off-loading through digital navigation systems, underscoring the need for reliable instruments to measure and support spatial abilities over time. We introduce a virtual reality-based assessment targeting spatial transformations between maps and environments across multiple task facets, including landmark, location, direction, and route processing. A pilot study with students from grades 3 and 4 examines the feasibility of the assessment and its potential to differentiate between individuals and task difficulty levels. Initial results indicate systematic variation in item difficulty and meaningful interindividual differences, providing first evidence for the suitability of the proposed instrument for assessing large-scale spatial abilities.