The relative potency of color and form perception at various ages.

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment l was to determine whether the perception of color or the perception of form plays a major part in the total apprehension of an object by individuals of a given age and whether this relative potency tends to change with age. The method employed was a modification of that used in a similar study carried out by Descoudres 2 and published in 1914. It involves the setting up of an experimental situation in which the subjects are required to choose between two alternatives in matching a series of objects. When the objects chosen were similar in form, they were invariably dissimilar in color; when color was the same, form could not be matched. Each situation offered equal opportunity for matching upon the basis of either form or color, but a choice always had to be made. Material. In the present study, three sets of material were used. The first set, which was used only with children below the age of six years, consisted of a series of solid geometrical forms painted in the six colors, red, orange, yellow, green, Hue and purple. Oil paints which produced a surface having but slight gloss were used. The colors were bright and clear, but no attempt was made to match exact standards, since it was obvious that the soiling from constant handling by the children would quickly produce minor variations from the original colors in any case, and thus preclude precise control of the color factor. This difficulty was reduced to a minimum, however, by frequent cleaning with art-gum and by repainting the blocks at brief intervals throughout the experiment. The complete set included 6 two-inch wooden spheres, one in each of the six colors; 12 two-inch cubes, two in each of the six colors; and 18 cylinders, two inches in diameter and two inches in height, three in each of the six colors. In placing the forms before the children, the cube was used in two positions and the cylinder in three (see Fig. i). * The problem was suggested and the plan of procedure developed by Goodenough, who is also responsible for the method employed in summarizing the results and for writing the article. The data were collected by Brian. 'Alice Descoudres, Couleur, forme, ou nombref Arch, de psychol., 1914, 14, 3O5-341-197 1927. Each child was seen individually, but only the solid forms were used. 2. A group of 143 cases, 78 boys and 65 girls, ranging in age from 14 months to 5 years, 11 months. These children were obtained from the nursery school of the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Welfare and from several Minneapolis day nurseries. The data were obtained during the spring of 1928. The group includes 20 children who had been used as subjects the previous year; but since a full year had elapsed between the two series of experiments, it seemed justifiable to include them. Individual experimentation was again used, and, with a few exceptions, both the solid and the surface forms were tried.3. A total of 216 elementary school children, ranging in age from 6 to 14 years, served as subjects in a group experiment, usin...

Levels of learning: A comparison of concept formation and language acquisition

“…The ordering of dimensions: shape > shading > size, agrees with findings on cue salience in the literature. It has long been known that, for adults, form is more salient than color, and shading is, in effect, a variation between the colors of black and white (Brian & Goodenough, 1929). In addition, these two dimensions appear to be more salient than size.…”

Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review.

“…Most early research (e.g., Bills, 1931;Brian & Goodenough, 1929;Gails, 1922) tested the intuitive differential-practice account for CatteU's observation (cf. Quantz, 1897, p. 10).…”

The effect of cue familiarity on categorizing by preschool children

“…Unfortunately, the existence of this developmental change is still unsubstantiated. The evidence PATRICK AND OFFENBACH for such a change has come from work by Brian and Goodenough (1929) and others (e.g., Corah, 1964;Suchman & Trabasso, 1966); they reported that children younger than 3 years and older than 5 years preferrred form (the others preferred color). Modreski and Goss (1969) and Offenbach (1983;Offenbach, Baecher, & White, 1973) failed to find the predicted developmental changes among 4-and 5-year-old children.…”

“…For example, there may be a shift in preference (or dominance or attention) during the preschool years from color to form (e.g., Brian & Goodenough, 1929;Modreski & Goss, 1969). Specific attention to one of these cues could interact with classification criteria to change or alter sorting behavior.…”