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On the codes and processes involved in identity judgements of oblique lines
Author(s) -
Scher Anat,
Unruh W. R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1983.tb00547.x
Subject(s) - psychology , judgement , oblique case , diagonal , orientation (vector space) , set (abstract data type) , identity (music) , position (finance) , spatial ability , space (punctuation) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , communication , cognition , geometry , computer science , linguistics , mathematics , philosophy , physics , finance , neuroscience , political science , acoustics , law , economics , programming language , operating system
Young children organize spatial information in terms of a contextually bound reference system, while adults, presumably, rely on an abstract system of coordinates. The purpose of the present study was to examine the nature of the spatial codes and the mental operations which are used by older children and adults when processing spatial displays. To investigate these questions, the Orientation Judgement test, which consisted of identity judgements of successively presented oblique lines, was presented to 95 subjects: 35 10‐year‐olds, 30 14‐year‐olds and 30 adult university students. Subjects were tachistoscopically shown, in a Reaction Time paradigm, obliques which varied in respect to (1) their position within a square display and (2) their relations to the diagonal axis of the display. The results supported the conclusion that orientation was coded in terms of a set of pattern features such as position and axis, on which a match/mismatch analysis was carried out. The optional nature of the adult's spatial processing is discussed. The conclusion is that while framework features are mandatory for the young child's strategy, older perceivers can choose between optional strategies for the processing of space.