A set of 400 pictures standardised for Portuguese: Norms for name agreement, familiarity and visual complexity for children and adults

Abstract

The present article provides normative measures for 400 pictured objects (Cycowicz et al., 1997) viewed by Portuguese speaking Brazilian University students and 5-7 year-old children. Name agreement, familiarity and visual complexity ratings were obtained. These variables have been shown to be important for the selection of adequate stimuli for cognitive studies. Children's name agreement was lower than that of adults. The children also failed to provide adequate modal names for 103 concepts, rated drawings as less familiar and less complex, and chose shorter names for pictures. The differences in ratings between adults and children were higher than those observed in the literature employing smaller picture sets. The pattern of correlations among measures observed in the present study was consistent with previous reports, supporting the usefulness of the 400 picture set as a tool for cognitive research in different cultures and ages.