ABSTRACT
In an excellent review of research on the developmental course of visual perception, Clark University's Joachim Wohlwill notes that young children have a marked tendency to follow continuous linear paths in the perception of shape, which of course results in awareness of general outline rather than internal detail. Until children are well into the school years, their attention is caught by objects or scenes that are strong and simple—big bold strokes, bright clear colors, sharp contrasts, and similar overstatements. When children do become aware of details, they tend not to perceive them as parts-of-a-whole but as separate entities—smaller "wholes." Interestingly, young children do better than adults when it comes to recognizing things despite changes in position that put the object above, below, or sideways to the viewer. An experiment specifically directed toward finding out which letters of the alphabet present the greatest perceptual problems for children was recently carried out by Cornell's Eleanor Gibson.
