Classifying color materials: children are less holistic than adults

Much recent research indicates that children respond to materials which are separable for adults as though those materials were integral. The present studies examined differences between 5-year-olds and adults in the processing of integral materials. In Study 1, both children and adults made a majority of similarity classifications for those materials. However, the children were found to make fewer of those integral similarity classifications and more dimensional classifications than adults for materials varying in the integral dimensions of chroma and value. In Study 2, children's similarity judgments were also indicative of greater separability of those dimensions. For both children and adults, similarity ratings given in Study 2 were predictive of classification behavior in Study 1. Age differences in similarity ratings were also predictive of age differences in classification. The overall pattern of results is consistent with the idea that children's perception is neither more nor less holistic than that of adults. Whether children or adults are found to be more holistic depends on the nature of the material presented. With integral materials, young children respond in a manner which appears less holistic than that of adults.