Spatial Depth Relationships in Young Children’s Drawings

The representation in a two dimensional drawing of a spatial depth relationship between two discrete objects (i.e. one behind the other) has been studied by Freeman, Eiser, and Sayers (1977). When asked to draw one apple behind another, 5and 6-year-olds drew the objects separately, side by side; 7-year-olds drew them with the further object vertically above the nearer one; children of 9 years and older drew one object partially obscuring the other to indicate depth. When the same children were asked to draw one apple in front of another the results were less clearcut; because the further object was drawn first, partial occlusion of the further object by the nearer one as a possible means of indicating the depth relationship is not possible without the latter appearing transparent. Nevertheless, as in the “behind” condition, the tendency to separate the apples in the drawing declined with age. This study suggests that although the youngest children drew the two apples they made no attempt to represent the depth relationship between them. Since no model of the relationship was presented, the lack of depth relationships in the drawings may have resulted from the children’s difficulty in understanding the verbal terms; they may simply not have known what it means for one object to be behind orinfront ofanother. No information is available about whether or not young children can portray a depth relationship if they can see what such a relationship is like. In the experiment reported here, 5, 6, and 7-year-olds were asked to draw one object in front of or behind another when the two objects were visible throughout the experiment. Children were divided into “in front of” and “behind” groups to ascertain any differences in performance related to the spatial terms used.