Abstract
This study examined the developmental transition from object-centered to viewer-centered information in young children's drawings. 66 children, ages 4 to 6 years old, drew a miniature snowman as they saw it. The miniature snowman was presented to them with the head positioned to the (1) front, (2) back, (3) left, or (4) right. The face of the snowman was always down and concealed while the children were drawing. 4-yr.-olds more often made canonical drawings, 5-yr.-olds made conflicting drawings, and 6-yr.-olds made view-specific or vertical drawings. These findings suggested that the 4-yr.-olds drew an object using object-centered information, the 5-yr.-olds confused object- with viewer-centered information, and 6-yr.-olds represented an object by viewer-centered information.
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