Open AccessEmergence of representational activity during the early drawing stage: process analysis
Author(s) -
Yamagata Kyoko
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5884.00169
Subject(s) - task (project management) , blank , object (grammar) , process (computing) , psychology , component (thermodynamics) , cognitive psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , thermodynamics , operating system , systems engineering
This study analyzed the process underlying the emergence of representational drawing. Eighty‐seven children aged 1–3 years were asked to color or draw either a simple picture (P) or a contour for an object (DC) in a shared task. After that, they were asked to draw their mother on a blank sheet of paper in a no drawn contour task (NC). Whereas 1½‐ and 2‐year‐olds were more successful in the P task than in the DC task, the 2½‐ and 3‐year‐olds were successful in both. The 2‐year‐olds were better in the DC than the NC task. The results show that 1½‐ and 2‐year‐olds can extract the component parts of a drawing even though they cannot produce them and children over 2½ years old can organize these components into a drawing by themselves. These findings indicate that representational drawing is based on the extraction of the component parts and the acquisition of the drawing ability to combine the parts into a drawing and that the beginnings of representational drawing are found in 1½‐ and 2‐year‐old children.