Poster #35 - Perceptual Detection and Understanding of Complexity, Symmetry, and Object Coherence in Preschool Children

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Preverbal infants respond with greater interest toward pictures of impossible objects suggesting they detect something is amiss, though it is unclear when they develop a conceptual understanding of structural possibility. We evaluated perceptual detection of impossibility and conceptual knowledge about real 3D objects in 3-, 4-, and 5-year old children. In Task 1, children matched depicted (2D) objects with real (3D) objects (i.e., actual cube, triangle, pitchfork and ring made of solid plastic) and answered questions about their structures and functions. In Task 2, they categorized several sets of depicted objects into groups based on complexity, symmetry, or possibility. Each stimulus set contained 12 line drawings that could be divided into two groups (e.g., 6 simple and 6 complex, 6 symmetric and 6 asymmetric, and 6 possible and 6 impossible). Subjects were instructed to look at all 12 shapes in the set and freely divide them into two groups based on what seemed most natural. If a child did not sort by the intended category, he/she was shown an example and given descriptive information pertaining to the primary perceptual dimension by which the figures should be sorted (e.g., tracing the impossible cube and pointing out lines that join incorrectly; drawing a butterfly while emphasizing equivalent left-right sides). In Task 3, subjects were given an instructional vignette and shown a sequence of matched pairs of possible-impossible figures, and asked to classify each object in the pair as either normal or silly.

Task 1 yielded near-perfect performance in 4- and 5-year-olds, while 3-year-olds averaged 1 error, F(2,68) = 8.1, p < .001. In Task 2, children struggled to identify impossibility as a characteristic for sorting. Few sorted by impossibility on their own, with a majority sorting by other shape properties unrelated to possibility, such as having curvy vs. straight lines. Even after instructional prompts about impossibility and pointing out the “funny” ones, fewer than half sorted by this dimension (M errors = 2). In the symmetry set, 60% sorted correctly in the first attempt on their own (M errors = 2), and another 34% did so after “butterfly” training (M errors = 1). Nearly all sorted without difficulty on the complexity set and detected the disparate number of line segments in the figures, with more than half performing error-free, although 3-year-olds made more errors than 4- and 5-year-olds, F(2,58) = 3.2, p < .05. In Task 3, older children responded with fewer errors in sorting by possibility compared to 3-year-olds, even after the elaborate instructional tutorial with figures presented one pair at a time, F(2,64) = 4.74, p < .01.

Most children did not spontaneously identify depicted objects as impossible, but did so after instructions. For children and adults alike, global incoherence is relatively difficult to recognize as a unifying property that could be used for grouping objects. Earlier results about increased attention may reflect increased perceptual processing and dominance of perceptual properties such as complexity or incomplete comprehension of impossibility, rather than inherent knowledge that such figures are not actually possible.

Authors

• Sarah Shuwairi, State University of New York at New Paltz
  Presenting Author

• Annie Tran, Battelle Memorial Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• John Belardo, Hudson Valley Art Association, Inc.
  Non-Presenting Author

• Greg Murphy, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author