The effects of varying planning demands on drawing components of squares and diamonds

doi:10.1016/0022-0965(88)90048-3

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Volume 45, Issue 1, February 1988, Pages 18-27

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(88)90048-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The effects of changing the level of complexity of motor planning demands in simple drawing tasks were examined in 5- to 11-year-old children. Square and diamond figure components were used in either figure completion or figure copying tasks graded in terms of the extent of planning demands. Grading of planning demands was achieved by varying the degree of assistance provided in the tasks; i.e., combinations of lines, angles, or junction points were given. General age level differences and overall differential difficulty between square components and diamond components were consistent with results reported previously by the authors (Broderick & Laszlo (1987) Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 43, 44–61). Tasks with low planning demands resulted in less difference between the square and diamond performance than tasks with higher planning demands. At the youngest age level variables other than planning demands may also effect performance.

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Cited by (16)

Thinking inside the box: Spatial frames of reference for drawing in Williams syndrome and typical development
2017, Research in Developmental Disabilities
Successfully completing a drawing relies on the ability to accurately impose and manipulate spatial frames of reference for the object that is being drawn and for the drawing space. Typically developing (TD) children use cues such as the page boundary as a frame of reference to guide the orientation of drawn lines. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) typically produce incohesive drawings; this is proposed to reflect a local processing bias.
Across two studies, we provide the first investigation of the effect of using a frame of reference when drawing simple lines and shapes in WS and TD groups (matched for non-verbal ability).
Individuals with WS (N = 17 Experiment 1; N = 18 Experiment 2) and TD children matched by non-verbal ability drew single lines (Experiment One) and whole shapes (Experiment Two) within a neutral, incongruent or congruent frame. The angular deviation of the drawn line/shape, relative to the model line/shape, was measured.
Both groups were sensitive to spatial frames of reference when drawing single lines and whole shapes, imposed by a frame around the drawing space.
A local processing bias in WS cannot explain poor drawing performance in WS.
Facilitating complex shape drawing in Williams syndrome and typical development
2013, Research in Developmental Disabilities
Citation Excerpt :
In this condition, participants were subject to reduced planning demands as starting and cessation points were provided and participants only has to determine a change in angle once. Provision of half a shape to guide drawing has previously been investigated in constructional apraxia (CAp; Smith & Gilchrist, 2005b), which is an acquired deficit in localising elements of visual space, and in TD children (Broderick & Laszlo, 1988). In both of these groups drawing of squares with and without a pre-drawn half of the square educed no significant differences in the angular deviation of drawn lines.
Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) produce drawings that are disorganised, likely due to an inability to replicate numerous spatial relations between parts. This study attempted to circumvent these drawing deficits in WS when copying complex combinations of one, two and three shapes. Drawing decisions were reduced by introducing a number of facilitators, for example, by using distinct colours and including facilitatory cues on the response sheet. Overall, facilitation improved drawing in the WS group to a comparable level of accuracy as typically developing participants (matched for non-verbal ability). Drawing accuracy was greatest in both groups when planning demands (e.g. starting location, line lengths and changes in direction) were reduced by use of coloured figures and providing easily distinguished and clearly grouped facilitatory cues to form each shape. This study provides the first encouraging evidence to suggest that drawing of complex shapes in WS can be facilitated; individuals with WS might be receptive to remediation programmes for drawing and handwriting.
Contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems to the copying of complex geometrical drawings: A developmental study
2007, Cognitive Development
The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems [Van Sommers, P. (1989). A system for drawing and drawing-related neuropsychology. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 6, 117–164] to the manifestation of the “Centripetal Execution Principle” (CEP), a graphic rule for the copying of drawings consisting of embedded simple geometric shapes from the outside shape to the inside shape. Children aged 4–8 years copied two types of model that differed in the visual salience of one of the simple geometric shapes (drawn in bold or normal weight lines), producing the drawings either by graphic execution (freehand) or by superimposing the simple geometric shapes. The results indicated that the frequency of CEP depended both on the type of model and on the drawing context in the youngest children. They suggest that the CEP is determined by the structure of the representation of the models and the planning of the execution of the drawings. The developmental differences in the effects of visual salience and execution context are discussed in the light of the development of representational flexibility and planning abilities. These data are consistent with a dissociation between the visual perception and graphic production systems and account for their interaction.
Developmental differences in drawing performance of the dominant and non-dominant hand in right-handed boys and girls
2006, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
As we did not measure reaction or initiation time we cannot rule out that the latter might have shown an effect on preparatory processes initiated before the drawing movements were started as was observed in a previous study (Van Mier et al., 1994). None of our tasks or manipulations showed differences between girls and boys, consistent with findings in previous fine motor tasks (Blank et al., 1999, 2000; Broderick & Laszlo, 1987, 1988; Weil & Amundsons, 1994). Manual asymmetries between gender reported by others (Annett & Kilshaw, 1983; Carlier et al., 1993; Carlier, Duyme, Capron, Dumont, & Perez-Diaz, 1993; Nalcaci et al., 2001; Pedersen et al., 2003; Von Hofsten & Rösblad, 1988) were not replicated in our study, rather, our findings are in line with results from Gabbard et al. (1993).
This paper addresses the development of fine motor skills in the dominant and non-dominant hand. A total of 60 right-handed children, aged 4–12 years old, were divided in five groups of 12 children, with six girls and six boys in each group. The children were presented with drawing tasks that had to be performed with the dominant and non-dominant hand. Small or large targets had to be connected by lines making either a zigzag (discrete) or slalom (continuous) movement. For each task, effects of age group, gender, hand, and target size were examined for drawing time, percentage of stop time, drawing distance, velocity, and errors. Comparison of stop times in both tasks showed that the zigzag task was performed in a discrete way while the slalom task was performed more continuously, except in the youngest children, who performed both tasks in a discrete manner. With increasing age the children performed the tasks faster, more accurate and with shorter stops. No significant differences were found between boys and girls. While a shorter drawing distance and less errors were observed for the dominant hand in both tasks, drawing time and velocity were not significantly different between both hands. However, the percentage of stop time was higher for the dominant hand. Moving to smaller targets resulted in slower and less accurate performance. A significant interaction of age group and hand was found for errors in both tasks, and for stop time and velocity in the slalom task, suggesting differential maturational changes for both hands in discrete and continuous drawing tasks.
Drawing from childhood experience: Constructional apraxia and the production of oblique lines
2005, Cortex
We report the performance of two patients (ECR and RA) with constructional apraxia on a drawing task previously used to test the development of planning abilities in children. Patients and controls were required to produce both oblique and horizontal/vertical lines that formed a right angle. Planning demands were manipulated across conditions by providing additional spatial information to constrain the drawing. Both patients produced drawings that were less accurate than controls. In addition, ECR was particularly poor at producing oblique lines compared to both RA and controls, even under conditions with minimal planning demands. This pattern of performance is qualitatively similar to that of children under eight years (see Broderick and Laszlo, 1988). Taken together these results provide further evidence that constructional apraxia is not a unitary disorder (with differential performance between patients) and that those differences are not necessarily related to laterality of damage (as both patients had right-hemisphere lesions). We argue for a more quantitative approach to the study of drawing abilities in neuropsychological testing in order to facilitate a finer grained analysis of the disorder and of comparison between patients.
Cognitive processing of drawing abilities
1999, Brain and Cognition
This critical review examines constructional apraxia from a cognitive neuropsychological perspective. To our knowledge, van Sommers (1989) is the only researcher to present a global cognitive model of drawing abilities. He organizes it into two hierarchical systems: Marr's model of visual perception and a graphic production system. The latter comprises four hierarchically organized components: depiction decisions, production strategy, contingent planning, and articulatory and economic constraints. Van Sommers' model will be discussed in light of other models and on the basis of empirical neuropsychological studies (Farah, 1984; Kosslyn & Koenig, 1992; Roncato, Sartori, Masterson, & Rumiati, 1987; van Sommers, 1989). We find that: (1) the Kosslyn and Koenig visual perception model describes more accurately the perceptual components underlying copying than the visual perception system of van Sommers' drawing model, (2) Van Sommers' arguments in favor of a depiction processing as opposed to visual imagery are not convincing, (3) Van Sommers' assumption that a production strategy is a component is unclear, and (4) articulatory and economic constraints are not cognitive components, but constraints imposed during action programming. This literature review leads to a discussion of future research topics and the specificity of constructional apraxia.

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^☆: This research was supported in part by the University of Western Australia Research Grant ISF.0020.84MT.

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The effects of varying planning demands on drawing components of squares and diamonds☆

Abstract

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

On drawing a diamond

Learning to draw

Art and visual perception

Art and visual perception

Cross cultural analysis of drawing errors

Construction of the horizontal, vertical and oblique by young children: Failure to find the “oblique effect”

Child Development

Errors towards the perpendicular in children's copies of angular figures: A test of the bisection interpretation

Perception

Figural biases and young children's drawing

Perception and understanding in young children

Orientation of the diamond and square revisited

Australian Journal of Psychology