The effect of object alignment on the representation of depth in young children's drawings.

Light and Humphreys (1981, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 31, 521-530) provided evidence that young children's drawings, despite infrequently showing view-specific occlusion, do systematically reflect spatial relations within an array. The present research tested the hypothesis that young children's preferences for canonical "best views" interact with array-faithful tendencies to increase early uses of occlusion. Forty-three children between 4 and 7 years of age drew arrays like Light and Humphreys' end-to-end alignments, with end-on views of objects in depth, and arrays aligned side-to-side, with canonical side-views of objects in depth. Significantly fewer single-object, view-specific occlusions were produced for end-to-end than for side-to-side alignments. Nevertheless, the former reveal that more children are able to use the vertical dimension to depict multiple objects in depth. Other comparisons suggest an interaction in multiple-object depictions of canonicality with spatial dimension and graphic complexity.     

The representation of depth in children's drawings of a table

Willats (1977) analysed developments in the drawing of a table in terms of the projection system in which the table top was represented, and concluded that representation of depth in drawing goes through a series of discrete stages, each of which can be identified with a projection system. A partial replication of Willats' study is presented here, using a much larger sample. The relationship between age and use of projection system found by Willats was in general supported. Not all the “stages” were found to be discrete, however, and an examination of the way in which the table tops were drawn shows that whilst the majority of older children appeared to use perspective, they did not use it correctly. A method is given by which tables that are drawn as if from a central viewpoint can be formally classified. It is concluded that development in the understanding of the representation of depth is not very closely linked to development in the use of projection systems.     

The use of children's drawings in multiple family group therapy

This paper describes the advantages, difficulties and techniques of including young children in multiple family group therapy (MFGT). Multiple family group therapy consists of weekly sessions where three or more families meet conjointly with a therapist or cotherapists. Clinical vignettes demonstrate how to use children's drawings with parents to improve family communication. The efficiency of MFGT is compared to family therapy or individual therapy. The effective use of this modality with some children under 10 years is discussed.This research was supported in part by Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Psychiatry Education Branch Grant MH 13882 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

The effects of tempo and familiarity on children's affective interpretation of music

When and how does one learn to associate emotion with music? This study attempted to address this issue by examining whether preschool children use tempo as a cue in determining whether a song is happy or sad. Instrumental versions of children's songs were played at different tempos to adults and children ages 3 to 5 years. Familiar and unfamiliar songs were used to examine whether familiarity affected children's identification of emotion in music. The results indicated that adults, 4 year olds and 5 year olds rated fast songs as significantly happier than slow songs. However, 3 year olds failed to rate fast songs differently than slow songs at above-chance levels. Familiarity did not significantly affect children's identification of happiness and sadness in music.     

The influence of stimulus affective value on children's patterns of visual selection

Two studies examined the role played by stimulus affective characteristics in determining children's patterns of visual selection. In a semi-natural experimental environment it was observed that children, unlike adults, seek out and explore stimuli rated as unpleasant or expressing negative emotions as well as those rated as pleasant or expressing positive emotions. That observation was discussed in terms of its compatibility with a hedonistic view of man, and its implications for understanding developmental changes in individual responses to affect.     

Experimenter effects on children's understanding of false drawings and false beliefs

Two experiments were conducted in which a variant of J. McGarrigle and M. Donaldson's (1975) "Naughty Teddy" intervention was applied to children's understanding of false drawings and false beliefs. The results showed that preschool children's understanding of the contents of an out-of-date drawing improved when the drawing was made by a capricious agent ("Naughty Snakey" glove puppet) rather than by the experimenter. The children's performance on a false belief task also improved when the events that set up the false belief were the result of the actions of the glove puppet. The results are discussed in terms of the role of children's sensitivity to the pragmatics of interactions in their development of a theory of mind.     

Graphic indicators of pedagogic style in Greek children's drawings

311 Greek children's drawings of classroom life were employed to investigate the diagnostic validity of this measure in identifying teachers' pedagogic style. The sample was divided into three age groups, 6-, 8-, and 10-yr. olds, who were asked to draw pictures of themselves and their teachers in their classroom. Drawings were scored using as criteria the four graphic indicators (ratings of size, detailing, centrality, and social distance) proposed by Aronsson and Anderson in 1996. Analysis showed three out of the four indicators discriminated teacher-centered vs student-centered pedagogic style. More specifically, in the teacher-centered setting children drew the teacher of dominant size, in a central position, and as remote, while in the student-centered setting the teacher was depicted closer to the student, in a less central position, and less emphasized relative to the student. The findings are discussed with respect to the absence of age-related effects and the possibility of using children's drawings of classroom life as a measure for tapping into children's representations of pedagogic style.     

The influence of picture size on recognition and exploratory behaviour in raised-line drawings

We demonstrate the influence of picture size on haptic recognition and exploratory behaviour. The stimuli were raised-line drawings of everyday objects. Participants were instructed to think aloud during haptic exploration of the pictures. We measured the delay between initial correct speculation and final correct response. The results indicate that picture size influences accuracy but not response latency: large drawings are recognised more often but not faster. By analysing video recordings of the experiment we found that two-handed exploration increases when picture size increases and that, on average, 83% of the exploration time involves the use of two hands. The thinking-aloud data showed that the average time difference between the initial correct speculation and final correct response amounted to 23% of the total reaction time. We discuss our results with respect to the design of tactile aids and the ecological validity of single-finger exploration.     

The effect of behavioral response on affective evaluation

In the present research we investigated how action influences affective evaluation. In three experiments, participants conducted a sequence of go/no-go tasks, then evaluated the pleasantness of a novel shape. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 show that participants evaluated the shapes that appeared in the go trials more positively than the shapes that appeared in the no-go trials. In Experiment 3, the go/no-go task was conducted without the to-be-evaluated shapes present in the display. The results show that the shape stimuli following the go trials were evaluated more positively than the shape stimuli following the no-go trials, even when the shapes were not directly associated with the go/no-go task. Based on the present study, we suggest that activating or inhibiting a motoric action may play a critical role in modifying one's affective evaluation. Additionally, the present results suggest that effortful and non-default responses can negatively modulate affective evaluation by taxing an individual's cognitive load. Furthermore, we argue that individuals can potentially control their affective states through behavioral activation and inhibition.     

The relationship between children's drawings and preferences for alternative depictions of a familiar object

Little attention has been paid to children's evaluations of their own drawings and those of others. This study aimed to determine whether young children are satisfied with their own method of portraying a familiar object, or whether they would ideally like to draw in a more advanced way, but are hampered by production deficiencies from achieving this aim. Children aged 4 to 9 years produced drawings of a house and expressed preferences concerning an experimental series of house drawings, in which features typically found in drawings by children of different ages were systematically varied. It was found that children of all ages preferred those drawings which had most features in common with their own productions, suggesting that they are satisfied with their own drawings and may actually choose to draw in the way that they do. The conclusions of other studies using this paradigm are questioned on the grounds that they contain methodological weaknesses, particularly with respect to design of their preference stimuli.     

The effect of self-observation on children's problem solving

The effects of self-observation on children's problem solving were investigated. Children (N = 124) aged 6-8 years attempted to solve the 3-disc Tower of Hanoi problem. After pretesting, children were grouped into those who (a) practiced solving the(c) observed problem independently, (b) received instruction on the most efficient solution, a videotape recording of their previous attempt, and (d) served as a control. Subsequently, children were immediately tested on the 3-disc problem and a more difficult 4-disc problem. They were tested again 1 week later. Performance was most improved for children inwere maintained the practice and video conditions on the 4-disc problem. Improvements over the 1-week interval. Unique characteristics of video self-observation are discussed.