Pictorial Depth Perception: A Developmental Study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Children between 4 and 10 years participated in a study of their ability to discriminate pictorially represented depth. Stimuli comprised pictures in which depth cues were systematically manipulated. Subjects were required to construct three‐dimensional models representing the size and spatial relationships between figures in the pictures. Models were scored for size and spatial accuracy. Size accuracy, relatively high at 4 years, increased with increase in age and number of depth cues. Spatial accuracy was poor below 8 years, but increased to near perfection between 8 and 10 years. However, spatial accuracy decreased slightly with increase in cues to depth. Poor spatial accuracy at younger ages is attributed to response failure rather than to a failure to perceive depth in the pictures.