The perspective illusion: Perceived size and distance in fields varying in suggested depth, in children and adults.

Abstract

This experiment investigated the effects of different stimulus fields, made up of perspective drawings varying in the amount and regularity of the elements subjected to perspective deformation, on the judgment of relative size and distance in the plane of the drawings. Four age groups, varying from first-grade children to college-age adults, were used as Ss. The results obtained confirmed the prediction that, as the amount and redundancy of information to depth contained in the field increased, the apparent midpoint of a segment of a line through the vanishing point would be displaced towards the top of the field. The results for the size judgments were less consistent. The only age difference appeared on the distance judgments, where adults exhibited smaller effects than children between 7 and 14 yr. of age. The implications of the experiment for an informational approach to the study of space perception are briefly considered.