Differential Cognitive Cues in Pictorial Depth Perception

Abstract

Forty predominantly Black third grade children were randomly assigned to eight groups and were asked a question regarding the relationship of elements in Hudson'-s pictorial depth perception task. The question varied in terms of "which (looks or is), (nearer or farther) to (you or man), the elephant or the antelope?" Performance in terms of ability to perceive depth was statistically significantly higher when Ss were asked "which looks/is farther... rather than nearer." No other effects were significant. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of lexical marking and attentional factors inherent in the relational words used in the question.

Differential cognitive cues in pictorial depth perception among Ugandan children

“…the means being 2.02 and 2.62 respectively. This finding lends support to the recent results reported by Omari and Cook (1972).…”

“…Furthermore, the present results support the findings (e. g., Clark, 1969;Huttenlocher and Higgins, 1971 ;Omari and Cook, 1972) that expressions with marked adjectives (e. g., "bad") are more difficult to process cognitively than the unmarked adjectives (e. g., "good"). Thus, the word "farther" which is assumed to be lexically unmarked or more basic (Clark, 1969, p. 213) seems to be stored and processed in the memory in a less complex form than the meaning of the concept "nearer."…”

“…But it seemed possible to Omari and Cook (1972) that different wordings of Hudson's crucial question might afford different cognitive cues to the spatial relations involved. These authors, therefore, conducted an experiment with third-grade New York children ("Blacks" and Puerto Ricans) in which Hudson's (1960) key question "Which is nearer the man, the elephant or the antelope?"…”

“…There is, however, an essential imbalance in the procedure used in the study by Omari and Cook (1972). This is apparent, for example, in the key question "Which is nearer to you, A or B?…”

“…Further, the restricted sample size and age range of the subjects used in the study by Omari and Cook (1972) and that of Page (1970), limit the generalizability of their findings about the effects of relational concepts upon 3-dimensional pictorial perception. Thus the purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend these latter studies by attempting to compare the effects of various cognitive cues in the questions asked upon the relationship of elements in depth perception of line drawings.…”