INFLUENCE OF VISUAL PROJECTION ON YOUNG CHILDRENS DEPICTIONS OF OBJECT PROPORTIONS

Can young children use the lengths of lines on a page to show the orie ntations of object surfaces? In two experiments, 5- and 6- and 7- and 8-year-olds drew models composed of upright cards: a square facing the child's vantage point was hinged to a second card of the same height. The second card's width was equal to or half the width of the square. In Experiment 1, the second card was in the same plane as the facing square, or receding by 45 degrees. Depicted width was examined by meas uring the lengths of lines showing horizontal card edges. For both age groups (N = 63) the equal-width card was drawn as significantly narro wer (relative to the facing square) when it was receding than when it was not receding. Depicted widths of the half-width card did not chang e with orientation. In Experiment 2, the second card receded by 45 deg rees or 75 degrees. For both age groups (N = 62), the equal-width and the half-width cards were drawn as narrower when they receded by 75 de grees than when they receded by 45 degrees. However, 5- and 6-year-old s used larger widths than 7- and 8-year-olds. Findings from both exper iments suggest that 5- and 6-year-olds are more reluctant to depart fr om the actual object proportions, but children in both age groups can foreshorten line lengths to indicate surfaces receding from a vantage- point. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.