Bukusu and Scottish school children were asked to reproduce tachistoscopically-exposed dot patterns showing different types of symmetry. Comparison of the errors revealed that both samples were able to make use of the symmetrical properties of a pattern to aid recall. Significant cross-cultural differences were found between the samples in their responses to nonsymmetrical patterns, the Bukusu sample making more errors. It was hypothesized that the latter result reflects differences in the cognitive styles of the two samples.
Young & Deregowski (1981) state that the reason for some subjects' failure to perceive 'impossible' figures as confusing is probably that they do not integrate the stimuli, even though they see elements of the figures as depicting spatial arrangements. This suggests that such subjects should also tend to build distorted models of geometrical structures. This hypothesis was tested in the course of the present experiment. The results support the hypothesis.
A new test for measuring the ability to perceive pictorial depth was used with children of two remote Bushman populations (!Xu and Kxoe), as well as with a sample of adult Bushmen drawn from these populations and a sample of urban Zulu chddren. The results show that subjects of apparently little sophstication are capable of perceiving depth when confronted with a 'geometric' figure. They also show surprising inter-group differences whch cannot be easily explained by differences of environmental experience.
The study investigated the effects of distinctive feature emphasis and familiarity with pictorial materials on the recognition of incomplete pictures of common objects in three cultural groups. Contrary to a familiarity hypothesis Kxoe Bushman pre‐school children were superior to both Zulu and white English‐speaking Sth African pre‐school children in recognizing fragmented pictures. Cultural differences were interpreted in terms of response strategies mediated by ecological and social variables. Children in each cultural group made effective use of distinctive features to aid recognition of fragmented pictures. The implications of these findings for the development of teaching materials were examined.
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