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The symmetry hypothesis and the perpendicular error: Evidence from discrimination and copying tasks
Author(s) -
Pigram John S.
Publication year - 1984
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.1984.tb00943.x
Subject(s) - copying , oblique case , psychology , symmetry (geometry) , perpendicular , task (project management) , line (geometry) , cognitive psychology , communication , geometry , mathematics , linguistics , law , philosophy , management , political science , economics
The interpretation by Breniner & Taylor (1982) that the tendency by children to increase oblique line angle size when copying line drawings (the ‘perpendicular error’) is one of ‘symmetry’ is examined using a discrimination and a copying task. Using single right‐angled triangles as stimuli, errors by older children in a discrimination task are found to be in the direction of ‘symmetry’. Evidence from a copying task using similar stimuli favours a simpler interpretation of oblique line errors in terms of a ‘vertical effect’. Strategies for copying remaining lines in such figures are analysed in terms of directional ‘rules’, the usage of which increases with subject age.