The ability to encode space is a crucial aspect of interacting with the external world. Therefore, this ability appears to be fundamental for the correct development of the capacity to integrate different spatial reference frames. The spatial reference frame seems to be present in all the sensory modalities. However, it has been demonstrated that different sensory modalities follow various developmental courses. Nevertheless, to date these courses have been investigated only in people with sensory impairments, where there is a possible bias due to compensatory strategies and it is complicated to assess the exact age when these skills emerge. For these reasons, we investigated the development of the allocentric frame in the auditory domain in a group of typically developing children aged 6-10 years. To do so, we used an auditory Simon task, a paradigm that involves implicit spatial processing, and we asked children to perform the task in both the uncrossed and crossed hands postures. We demonstrated that the crossed hands posture affected the performance only in younger children (6-7 years), whereas at 10 years of age children performed as adults and were not affected by such posture. Moreover, we found that this task\'s performance correlated with age and developmental differences in spatial abilities. Our results support the hypothesis that auditory spatial cognition\'s developmental course is similar to the visual modality development as reported in the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness training is believed to encourage self-transcendent states, but little research has examined this hypothesis. This study examined the effects of mindfulness training on two phenomenological features of self-transcendence: 1) perceived body boundary dissolution, and 2) more allocentric spatial frames of reference.
METHODS: A sample of healthy, young adults (n=45) were randomized to five sessions of mindfulness training or an active listening control condition.
RESULTS: Results indicated mindfulness training decreased perceived body boundaries (F 4,172=6.010, p<.001, η 2=.12) and encouraged more allocentric frames of reference (F 4,168=2.586, p=.039, η 2=.06). The expected inverse relationship was observed between perceived body boundaries and allocentric frames of reference ((β=-.58, p=.001)), and path analysis revealed the effect of mindfulness training on allocentric frames of reference was mediated by decreased perceived body boundaries (β=.24, se=.17, CI: 0.11 to 0.78).
CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, study results suggest that mindfulness training alters practitioners\' experience of self, relaxing the boundaries of the self and extending the spatial frame of reference further beyond the physical body. Future studies are needed to explore the psychophysiological changes that co-occur with phenomenological reports of self-transcendence and the behavioral consequences following self-transcendent experiences.

Several works have demonstrated that visual experience plays a critical role in the development of allocentric spatial coding. Indeed, while children with a typical development start to code space by relying on allocentric landmarks from the first year of life, blind children remain anchored to an egocentric perspective until late adolescence. Nonetheless, little is known about when and how visually impaired children acquire the ability to switch from an egocentric to an allocentric frame of reference across childhood. This work aims to investigate whether visual experience is necessary to shift from bodily to external frames of reference. Children with visual impairment and normally sighted controls between 4 and 9 years of age were asked to solve a visual switching-perspective task requiring them to assume an egocentric or an allocentric perspective depending on the task condition. We hypothesize that, if visual experience is necessary for allocentric spatial coding, then visually impaired children would have been impaired to switch from egocentric to allocentric perspectives. Results support this hypothesis, confirming a developmental delay in the ability to update spatial coordinates in visually impaired children. It suggests a pivotal role of vision in shaping allocentric spatial coding across development.