Rappresentazione dello spazio ed egocentrismo percettivo

This paper presents the results of a research on perspective taking, aimedto investigate two specific themes: the age when the child leaves perceptiveegocentrism, and gender differences in the management of spatial refer-ence systems. The innovative contribution of this work is that it has ad-dressed the issue with a not abused tool for this field: the videogame, whichhas been the data collecting instrument for the experimental research proj-ect.The paper addresses the issue of the representation of space in the child,from Piaget to neurosciences, describing the reference systems competingin the representation of space and the Piagetian conceptual framework, andreporting the scientific debate on the "three mountains task" and the spa-tial theory of empathy.Once described the conceptual framework, the text presents the researchdesign, the path for design and development of the videogame, the meth-ods for data collection and discusses the results obtained. The experimen-tal process has led to observe how the cognitive processes involved inspace representation are processes also involved in the management of in-ter-subjective relationship modes. The age range 6-7 years and 12-13 yearsis the period in which the child learns the change of point of view, in the lit-eral sense, and, in a broad sense, realizes that the world can not be seenone way, that space can be manipulated, that it is possible to consider thethoughts and emotions of others. It is the age in which the capacity for em-pathy develops, understood as the ability to see the world through the eyesof others.