The Effect of Background Context on Children’s Understanding of the Spatial Depth Arrangement of Objects in a Drawing

J. Perara & M. V. Cox
pp. 144-154.

Abstract

A total of 226 children aged 4, 5, 7 and 9 years aged years and a group of 52 adults participated in a study of pictorial depth sensitivity. Stimuli comprised four pictures of two apples, one above the other. The relative sizes of the apples were manipulated across the four pictures. In one condition the apples were depicted on a blank page; in a second condition they were depicted resting on a table. Approximately half the participants were allocated to each condition. For each stimulus the participant was asked to identify the nearer (and farther) apple. The inclusion of a background context (condition 2) significantly affected participants’ identification of between-object depth relations, enabling them to identify the lower apple as the nearer and the upper as the farther. Without this context (condition 1) participants tended to use the size of the objects as a cue to their distance from the viewer. Evidence of an age-related component to pictorial depth perception was found: 4-year-olds had difficulty with their responses even when a context was depicted, perhaps reflecting their relative lack of experience with pictures compared with older participants.

Key words: spatial depth cues, 2D drawings, context effects