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National Art Education Association Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art Author(s): R. A. Salome Source: Art Education, Vol. 19, No. 9 (Dec., 1966), pp. 27-29 Published by: National Art Education Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190844 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 17:17 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . National Art Education Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Education. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.79.69 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:17:40 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art

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Page 1: Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art

National Art Education Association

Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's ArtAuthor(s): R. A. SalomeSource: Art Education, Vol. 19, No. 9 (Dec., 1966), pp. 27-29Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190844 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 17:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

National Art Education Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ArtEducation.

http://www.jstor.org

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Page 2: Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art

PERCEPTUAL TRAINING

as a factor in children's art

R. A. SALOME

STUDIES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY of perception indicate that certain visual functions can be improved through instruction which develops the ability to observe and respond selectively to visual stimuli. Such training may contribute to better understanding and more accurate descriptions of visually perceived forms and patterns. As the aims of art education are evaluated and revised, the improvement of visual perception continues to be a goal. However, the task of defining training procedures rele- vant to specific perceptual skills which might be pre- sented in conjunction with art instruction will require considerable research and consideration.

While the production of and appreciation for visual art forms is affected by perceptual training, there is no evidence to indicate a causal relationship between par- ticipation in art activities and improved visual perception. The importance of perceptual training in child art may not become obvious until some definite decisions about the kinds of behavior underlying the production and appreciation of art forms are reached. McFeel has sug- gested several facilitative behaviors needed in art, one of which is sensitive awareness. While this is a behavior which may be improved through instruction, belief in a biogenic, age-based pattern of development has undoubt- edly limited direct teaching for perceptual readiness in art. Bruner2 writes that the biological development of the individual includes a complex of capacities which develop at different rates, are not clearly linked to age, and may be accelerated or retarded by the environment. He emphasizes that readiness which permits mastery of higher skills must be taught for; the longer this is put off, the more difficult it becomes for the child to master more elaborate skills. Thus, in opposition to the bio- genetic theory, one does not wait for readiness, but teaches for or provides opportunities for its nurture.

The difficulty of predicting what children are ready for in terms of age-based normative scales was illus- trated in a recent study conducted under the writer's supervision.3 Seventeen of twenty-one kindergarten chil- dren were found to be utilizing a base line in drawing. The same drawing task was given to twenty four-year- olds, twelve of whom used a base line. Following discus- sion and teacher approval of spatial organization methods considered more advanced than the base line, substantial numbers of kindergarten, first, and second grade children utilized such devices.

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Page 3: Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art

The child does not enter school void of experience, habits, and concepts. Each is to some degree ready to perceive, interpret, and organize responses to various situations and stimuli. Thus, we must ask, "What percep- tions should be developed in the art program?" The diversity of individual needs necessitates limiting this dis- cussion to some general principles. By the time the child enters school, he has achieved object constancy or the ability to recognize objects whenever they appear. But the imperfections and limitations of object perception at this age suggest the school art program can do much to enrich and refine the child's visual awareness.

Available evidence indicates that children tend not to make adequate adjustment for the effects of varied illumination, viewing angles, or distance in object per- ception. A great deal of visual information which might contribute not only to the delineation of art forms for some but also to the improvement of aesthetic percep- tion is lost to them.

Ralph Pearson4 emphasized visual training as a factor of extreme importance in both production and appre- ciation of pictorial design and offered the following explanation of the way in which an artist analyzes his environment. First, there is "practical vision" which is necessary for object identification and decisions concern- ing relevant action. Through association, manipulation, and learning, objects are labeled, classified, and remem- bered. This limited way of seeing, practiced by all people, is necessary for survival.

There are times when an individual utilizes "curious vision" to examine an unfamiliar object more closely than he normally attends to visual stimuli. The highly accurate vision of the scientist falls under this category, although Pearson suspects that even this keen analysis remains blind to pattern relationships of units observed. For example, the archaeologist examining Hopi pottery ". . . may see, in the designs he studies, all the historical, ethnological and symbolical significance, and be blind totally to the art significance."

More advanced is the ability to utilize "imaginative and reflective" vision. One is able to call up in the mind's eye past events, and free play of the imagination may occur. He can add to or change such scenes as he pleases. This kind of vision is used extensively by artists.

Of ultimate importance to the artist is "pure vision" which is almost universally undeveloped. "It sees objects as ends in themselves, disconnecting them from all prac- tical and human associations." Thus, an old tin can may be perceived to have aesthetic qualities including form, texture, color, proportions, and patterns caused by light falling on the rusted surface.

A wealth of training and experience contribute to an artist's ability to perceive subtle visual relationships and transmit them into aesthetic forms. However, available evidence suggests that without special instruction many deficiencies in the child's visual perception may develop and become habitual. Beginning in kindergarten basic manipulating and looking skills are informally developed, and perceptual growth undoubtedly continues to some degree without formal training. But, as the child grows older habitual ways of perceiving the environment develop. These tendencies or predispositions resulting from earlier experiences influence the way older children respond to and organize visual stimuli. It is doubtful that

many children will go beyond the practical and curious vision described by Pearson without specific training to develop these skills.

The child acquires some perceptual skills through inter- action within the culture. The effects of cultural varia- tion in perceptual training upon child art were recognized by Anastasi and Foley5 who concluded that the amount of detail included in children's drawings relates closely to the importance which a culture attaches to a particular kind of behavior or object. Belo's6 study of Balinese children indicated that cultural emphasis on attending to certain objects is a very effective form of perceptual training. Boys of six and seven produced highly detailed drawing of certain cultural elements. Children of the Orotchen Indian tribe which depends on reindeer and elk for survival were found able to draw these animals with remarkable accuracy of form representation despite the lack of any previous drawing instruction.7

It is generally accepted that visual perception is affected by learning. If perceptual growth continues as an aim of art education, steps should be taken to ascertain whether or not learning strategies that will take children beyond the skills naturally acquired through the culture can be developed and presented as part of the art program.

The extent to which participation in general art activ- ities or concentration in a particular kind of art activity may affect visual perception remains open to question. Silverman8 found that participation in general art activi- ties or in specific three-dimensional art experiences did not improve the performance of high school students on the two and three dimension spatial relations test of the Multiple Aptitude Tests.

Several recent studies have attempted to define speci- fic kinds of perceptual training for attending to relevant visual cues which might contribute to the child's visual sensitivity. Kensler9 sought to provide seventh grade children with perceptual training for attending to relevant visual cues which would increase their ability to utilize the perspective system in drawing significantly more than students without such training. No significant differences were reported. His study did raise some questions rele- vant to patterns of space orientation and the ability to draw in perspective.

Eflandl0 found that perceptual training designed to develop the ability to discriminate oblique lines and angles significantly improved differentiation of form in the man and house drawings of first grade children from what he described as an upper middle class environment. However, lower middle class children did not respond to the treatment. He speculates that a readiness factor rele- vant to socioeconomic background may affect a child's response to the training used in his study.

The writer provided fourth and fifth grade experimental groups with perceptual training to seek visual informa- tion located in the contours of visual stimuli prior to drawing those objects.11 Control groups were given extremely thorough "conventional drawing instruction" without perceptual training per se. Ambiguous results were obtained from fourth grade comparisons, but highly significant results favoring the perceptual training were found at the fifth grade level. Perceptual training relevant to visual cues located in the contours of objects did increase the amount of visual information included in the drawings of fifth grade subjects. It was also found that

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Page 4: Perceptual Training as a Factor in Children's Art

fourth and fifth grade perceptual training groups reached a higher level of achievement over the measured vari- ables sooner than the control groups.

Perceptual training as a factor in child art should not be conceived of merely as a means of increasing repre- sentational drawing abilities. On the other hand, many children at the intermediate grade levels may cease to find pleasure in art, because current methods of instruc- tion de-emphasize training which might enable them to delineate more representational drawings.

Because of the infinite volume of perceptual stimuli constantly bombarding the perceptors, the individual appears to develop visual habits which aid in rapid object perception. Visual perception considered as an information handling process must deal with redundant material far in excess of what can be easily coped with.12 Rather than responding to every element of a redundant situation, we tend to organize and average out essential aspects. This process seems necessary and practical, but it may result in habitual ways of perceiving which are incomplete. It is well known in the world of advertising that visual stimuli compete for attention, with advantage going to those of greatest size, intensity, or repetition. One of the perceptual skills that art education seems especially suited to develop is the ability to see and deal with visual detail in a selective manner.

If, as Attneave posits, redundant visual stimulation results from areas of homogeneous color, texture, and contour direction, the child might benefit from training to look for differences-to separate out the essential cues which may be overlooked as the perceptual machinery groups extremely redundant information. For example, a tree's foliage mass presents the child with a vast amount of repetitive information which he seeks to resolve as economically as possible. The seeming complexity of the situation may partially explain the tree symbols to which some children cling, despite the fact that they relate little of the visual qualities inherent in trees. Perceptual training might develop the child's awareness of redun- dancy in such a situation, encouraging him to note a commonality to which leaves of a specific tree might be referred, followed by examination of points at which boundary lines around and within the foliage mass change direction.

Perception is oriented toward things rather than sen- sory qualities such as redness, or softness. The child learns to recognize things upon their reappearance, assigning them permanent qualities which continue regardless of varying conditions of light, viewing angle, and distance.13 Thus, perceptions are based upon infor- mation received from stimuli and presumptions grow- ing out of past experience with objects. Children's visual sensitivity might be increased by making them aware of the constancies and encouraging them to use what they know and see in a flexible, exploratory manner. Develop- ing a child's awareness of the tendency to see objects as of normal color regardless of affecting conditions might make color mixing, tinting, and shading far more mean- ingful learning experiences than either academic study of the color wheel or the emotional and intellectual abandon approach.

Perhaps we have overemphasized the child's intuitive designing abilities and their loss due to outside adult authority during the intermediate school years. Possibly

our concern for the development of creativity through participation in art experiences has caused art educators to overlook the many variables affecting an individual's readiness to express with art materials and procedures. Can the child achieve a respectable level of aesthetic awareness and visual literacy without purposeful train- ing? Can the position of art education be enhanced without emphasis upon the organizational aspects of design? It is doubtful that a student acquires much information or incentive from teacher comments such as "interesting" or "exciting" as he attempts to organize or understand the organization of visual elements con- trived to interpret experience or elicit an aesthetic response.

The visual sensitivity practiced by an artist derives from years of training. It is not the writer's intent to suggest that art education can or should attempt to develop such a refined level of visual awareness in every child. How- ever, visual perception is affected by learning. As a factor of importance in the production and appreciation of art and general aesthetic awareness, visual sensitivity requires careful consideration as a behavior for which we might teach.

R. A. Salome is assistant professor of art in the Depart- ment of Art Education at the University of Minnesota.

FOOTNOTES:

1. McFee, June K. Address at the NCS PAA Convention, November 18, 1960, Asilomar, California.

2. Bruner, Jerome S. "Education as Social Invention." Sat- urday Review 70-72, 102-103; February 19, 1966.

3. Dorethy, Rex. "Significant Aspects of the Base Line in Primary Children's Art." (Unpublished master's thesis) Illinois State University, 1965.

4. Pearson, Ralph M. How To See Modern Pictures. New York: Dial Press, Inc., 1925. pp. 29-42.

5. Anastasi, A. and Foley, J., Jr. "An Analysis of Sponta- neous Drawings by Children in Different Cultures." Journal of Applied Psychology 20: 689-726; 1936.

6. McFee, June K. Preparation for Art. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., Inc., 1961. pp. 30-33.

7. Schubert, A. "Drawings of Orotchen Children and Young People." Journal of Genetic Psychology 37: 232-34; 1930.

8. Silverman, R. "Comparing the Effects of Two- versus Three-Dimensional Art Activity Upon Spatial Visualiza- tion, Aesthetic Judgment and Art Interest." (Unpublished Ed.D. dissertation) Stanford University, 1962.

9. Kensler, Gordon. "The Effects of Perceptual Training and Modes of Perceiving Upon Individual Differences in Ability to Learn Perspective Drawing." Studies in Art Education 7: 34-41; Autumn 1965.

10. Efland, Arthur D. "The Effect of Perceptual Training Upon the Differentiation for Form in Children's Draw- ing." (Unpublished Ed.D. dissertation) Stanford Uni- versity, 1965.

11. Salome, Richard A. "The Effects of Perceptual Training Upon the Two-Dimensional Drawings of Children." (Un- published Ed.D. dissertation) Stanford University, 1964. See also article under same title in Studies in Art Edu- cation 7: 18-33; Autumn 1965.

12. Attneave, Fred. "Some Informational Aspects of Visual Perception." Psychological Review 61: 183-193; 1954.

13. Hilgard, Ernest R. Introduction to Psychology. (Second Edition) New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1957. Chapter 15.

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