THE ROLE OF TYPICAL CONTOURS IN THE ENCODEMENT OF OBJECTS IN 3-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS

Two experiments are reported in which the relationship between the ori entation of the typical contour of a lamella in relation to the observ er, and the ability of the observer to learn the correct position and orientation of sets of lamellae in three-dimensional arrays, was exami ned. For lamellae presented with their typical contour in a plane othe r than the observer's frontoparallel plane, the results of both experi ments indicated that participants encoded lamellae in such a way that their typical contour appeared to be closer to the observer's frontopa rallel plane than the respective stimulus. The relationship of the pre sent findings to previous results on children's drawings and to the co ncept of the picture plane are considered.