The Influence of Pictorial Structures on Children's Ability to Classify Paintings: A Developmental Study Using Computer Manipulated Images (Form, Composition, Color)
Harrison, Eugene Robert
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69085
Description
Title
The Influence of Pictorial Structures on Children's Ability to Classify Paintings: A Developmental Study Using Computer Manipulated Images (Form, Composition, Color)
Author(s)
Harrison, Eugene Robert
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Educat.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Art
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of pictorial structures, color, shape and composition, on the development of children's ability to classify paintings. Furthermore, it was expected that: (a) there would be a developmental trend from color to shape as the classification dimension; and (b) there would be no significant sex differences for the choice of classification dimensions within grade levels.
This study borrowed methodology from synthetic and analytic research, but involved a systematic computer assisted manipulation of color, shape, and composition to ascertain the relative influence of each dimension on the classification task. The test stimuli were created from color reproductions of twentieth-century, hard-edge paintings. Two slide sets were used in the study. Part A consisted of 11 test arrays. Each array was composed of 1 study and 3 computer manipulated slides. Part B consisted of 5 randomly chosen slides from Part A arranged into 13 test arrays. Each array was composed of 1 study and 2 computer manipulated slides.
Eighty subjects, equally divided between male and female, representing four age groups, pre-school, third/fourth, fifth/sixth and college, were used in this study. The match-to-sample task required the subjects to choose between alternative slides with each situation offering equal opportunity for matching on the basis of either color, shape or composition.
The results supported a developmental trend from color to shape as the prominent cue for classification. Initially color was preferred over shape and composition as a classification dimension (pre-school and third/fourth grade). Developmentally, color lost influence and was replaced by shape as a classification cue (fifth/sixth grade). By the college level, all dimensions had relative equality with shape remaining slightly more influential. This study identified no significant sex differences within age groups.
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