Children's sensitivity to pictorial depth information

Abstract

Children, ranging in age from 3 years, 4 months to 5 years, 4 months, were tested for sensitivity to interposition, height in field, linear perspective, and retinal size under either restricted (monocular, head motionless) or unrestricted (binocular, head free) picture surface viewing conditions. All of the subjects' relative depth responses (near vs. far) to two toy houses were remarkably accurate with interposition and or height in field pictorial depth information. Retinal size had relatively little control over their responses, and the addition of linear perspective resulted in no significant improvement. Performance was nearly equivalent under the two viewing conditions, indicating young children's ability to take a "pictorial attitude." © 1975 Psychonomic Society, Inc.