Children's picture interpretation:appearance or intention?

Armitage, Emma and Allen, Melissa (2015) Children's picture interpretation:appearance or intention? Developmental Psychology, 51 (9). pp. 1201-1215. ISSN 0012-1649

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Abstract

Pictures are defined by their creator’s intentions and resemblance to their real world referents. Here we examine whether young children follow a realist route (e.g., focusing on how closely pictures resemble their referents) or intentional route (e.g., focusing on what a picture is intended to represent by its artist) when identifying a picture’s referent. In 3 experiments, we contrasted an artist’s intention with her picture’s appearance to investigate children’s use of appearance and intentional cues. In Experiment 1, children aged 3–4 and 5–6 years (N = 151) were presented with 4 trials of 3-object arrays (e.g., a pink duck, a blue duck, and a teddy). The experimenter photographed or drew 1 of the objects (e.g., blue duck), however, the subsequent picture depicted the referent in grayscale (black and white condition) or the color of its shape-matched object, for example, a pink duck (color change condition). Children were asked 3 questions regarding the identity of the pictures; responses were guided by intentional cues in the black and white condition, but appearance in the color change condition. Experiment 2 confirmed that appearance responses were not due to the artist’s changing knowledge state. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 1 with adult participants. Together, these studies show that children and adults are neither strictly realist nor intentional route followers. They are realists until resemblance cues fail, at which point they defer to intentional cues.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Developmental Psychology
Additional Information:
This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3204
Subjects:
?? DEMOGRAPHYLIFE-SPAN AND LIFE-COURSE STUDIESDEVELOPMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ??
ID Code:
73951
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
01 Jul 2015 14:46
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
01 Oct 2023 00:38