Adult subjects drew the visual projection of two models. One model was a trapezoid placed in the frontoparallel plane. The other was a tilted rectangle which displayed the same projective shape on a frontoparallel plane as the trapezoid. The drawing conditions were varied in two ways: the model remained available for inspection during the drawing task or it was masked after initial inspection; the subjects drew on paper placed flat on the table or on a vertical glass pane placed in front of the model (ie on a da Vinci window). The results were that (i) the projective shape of the frontoparallel trapezoid was reproduced accurately whereas that of the tilted rectangle was systematically distorted in the direction of its actual physical dimensions; (ii) when subjects drew on paper, the presence or absence of a view of the model made no difference to the amount of distortion; (iii) drawing on a da Vinci window improved accuracy even when the model was hidden. These findings provide information about the relative roles of object-centred knowledge, perceptual abilities, and depiction skills in drawing performance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarrettM DBeaumontA VJennettM S, 1985“Some children do sometimes do what they have been told to do: Task demands and verbal instructions in children's drawing”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 176–187
2.
Caron-PargueJ, 1985Le Dessin du Cube chez l'Enfant (Berne: Peter Lang)
3.
ChenM J, 1985“Young children's representational drawings of solid objects: A comparison of drawing and copying”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 157–175
4.
CoxM, 1986“Cubes are difficult things to draw”British Journal of Developmental Psychology4341–345
5.
CoxM, 1989“Knowledge and appearance in children's pictorial representation”Educational Psychology915–25
CrookC, 1985“Knowledge and appearance”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 248–265
8.
DavisA M, 1983“Contextual sensitivity in young children's drawings”Journal of Experimental Child Psychology35478–486
9.
DavisA M, 1985“The canonical bias: Young children's drawings of familiar objects”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 202–213
10.
DuberyFWillatsJ, 1972/1983Perspective and Other Drawing Systems (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold) (original edition 1972)
11.
EdwardsB, 1979Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Los Angeles, CA: Thatcher)
12.
FreemanN H, 1980Strategies of Representation in Young Children: Analysis of Spatial Skills and Drawing Process (New York: Academic Press)
13.
FreemanN H, 1986“How should a cube be drawn?”British Journal of Developmental Psychology4317–322
14.
FreemanN HCoxM V (Eds.), 1985Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
15.
FreemanN HJanikounR, 1972“Intellectual realism in children's drawings of familiar objects with distinctive features”Child Development41116–1121
16.
GibsonJ J, 1968“The structuring of light by artifice”, in The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (London: Allen and Unwin) pp 224–249
17.
GibsonJ J, 1971“The information available in pictures”Leonardo427–35
18.
GibsonJ J, 1986“Pictures and visual awareness”, in The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) pp 267–291
19.
GregoryR L, 1966Eye and Brain (New York: McGraw-Hill)
20.
HagenM A, 1985“There is no development in art”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 59–77
21.
HagenM A, 1986Varieties of Realism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
22.
KaessD W, 1970“Differences between identifying of real shape and perspective shape”Journal of Experimental Psychology83465–471
23.
KlaueK, 1991“Perception d'environnements réels et virtuels”, in La Perception de l'Environment Eds FlückigerMKlaueK (Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Delachaux et Niestlé) pp 239–256
24.
KlaueK, 1992“The development of depth representation in children's drawings: Effects of graphic surface and visibility of the model”British Journal of Developmental Psychology1071–83
25.
KubovyM, 1986The Psychology of Perspective and Renaissance Art (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
26.
Lange-KuettnerCReithE, 1995“The transformation of figurative thought: Implications of Piaget and Inhelder's developmental theory for children's drawing”, in Drawing and Looking: Theoretical Approaches to Pictorial Representation in Children Eds Lange-KuettnerCThomasG V (Hemel Hempstead, Herts: Harvester Wheatsheaf) pp 77–92
27.
LeeMBremnerG, 1987“The representation of depth in children's drawings of a table”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology39479–496
28.
LightP, 1985“The development of view-specific representations considered from a socioeconomic standpoint”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 214–230
29.
LightPMacintoshE, 1980“Depth relationships in young children's drawings”Journal of Experimental Child Psychology3079–87
30.
LightPSimmonsB, 1983“The effect of a communication task upon the representation of depth relationships in young children's drawings”Journal of Experimental Child Psychology3581–92
31.
LuquetG H, 1927Le Dessin Enfantin (Paris: Alcan)
32.
MarrD, 1982Vision (San Francisco, CA: W H Freeman)
33.
NiallK KMacnamaraJ, 1989“Projective invariance and visual shape constancy”Acta Psychologica7265–79
34.
NicolaidesK, 1941The Natural Way to Draw (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin)
35.
NichollsA L, 1993“Developing an understanding of projection rules for drawing”, in Experimental Studies in Aesthetics G Cupchik (Chair), paper presented at session, American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, Canada, August 1993
36.
NichollsA L, 1995“Influence of visual projection on young children's depictions of object proportions”Journal of Experimental Child Psychology60(2), in press
37.
NichollsA LKennedyJ M, 1992“Drawing development: From similarity of features to direction”Child Development63227–241
38.
PhillipsW AChristieD F M, 1977a“Components of visual memory”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology29117–133
39.
PhillipsW AChristieD F M, 1977b“Interference with visualization”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology29637–650
40.
PhillipsW AHobbsS BPrattF R, 1978“Intellectual realism in children's drawings of cubes”Cognition615–33
41.
PiagetJInhelderB, 1948/1956The Child's Conception of Space (Andover, Hants: Routledge & Kegan Paul) (original French version published 1948)
42.
PiagetJLambercierM, 1951“La comparison de grandeurs projectives chez l'enfant et chez l'adulte”Archives de Psychologie3381–130
43.
PillowB HFlavellJ H, 1986“Young children's knowledge about visual perception: Projective size and shape”Child Development57125–135
44.
PrattF, 1983“Intellectual realism in adults' and children's copies of cubes and straight lines”, in The Acquisition of Symbolic Skills Eds RogersDSlabodaJ A (New York: Plenum Press) pp 53–63
45.
PrattF, 1985“A perspective on traditional artistic practices”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 32–58
46.
RadkeyA LEnnsJ T, 1987“Da Vinci's window facilitates drawing of total and partial occlusion in young children”Journal of Experimental Child Psychology33222–235
47.
ReithE, 1988“The development of use of contour lines in children's drawings of figurative and non-figurative three-dimensional models”Archives de Psychologie5683–105
48.
ReithE, 1990“Development of representational awareness and competence in drawing production”Archives de Psychologie58369–379
49.
ReithE (in press) “Drawing development: The child's understanding of the dual reality of pictorial representations”, in Child Development in Art Ed. KindlerA M, National Art Education Association Monograph Series
50.
ReithESteffenCGillièronC, 1994“Children's drawing of water level: Operatory knowledge, attention to visual image, and depiction skills”Swiss Journal of Psychology53(2) 86–97
51.
ThomasG VSilkA M J, 1990An Introduction to the Psychology of Children's Drawings (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf)
52.
ThoulessR H, 1931“Phenomenal regression to the real object”British Journal of Psychology21338–359
53.
VurpillotE, 1972Le Monde Visuel du Jeune Enfant (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France)
54.
WillatsJ, 1977“How children learn to draw realistic pictures”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology29367–382
55.
WillatsJ, 1985“Drawing systems revisited: The complementary roles of production systems and denotation systems in the analysis of children's drawings”, in Visual Order: The Nature and Development of Pictorial Representation Eds FreemanN HCoxM V (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp 78–98
56.
WillatsJ, 1992“The representation of extendedness in children's drawings of sticks and discs”Child Development63692–710
57.
WillatsJ, 1995“Learning to draw: An information processing account of pictorial representation in children”, in Drawing and Looking. Theoretical Approaches to Pictorial Representation in Children (Hemel Hempstead, Herts: Harvester Wheatsheaf) pp 27–43
