This study focuses on the development of a quantitative model designed to show how figural and ground space is manipulated by the young artist to reflect structure and organization in drawings. Two computational methods are used to (a) establish a mathematical scale of visual balance for drawings, and (b) specify the geometric center of balance in the drawings. A series of analyses are performed to determine the validity and reliability of the programs used to perform machine processes analogous to those people use in imposing organization on the structure of drawings. / This paper provides experimental evidence in support of the Gestalt principles of organization, and establishes a methodological basis for the interpretation of those principles in a computational medium. Drawings are analyzed in terms of their part-whole relationships, according to the theories of Rudolph Arnheim. The developmental aspects of organization in drawing production are investigated. Computer bitmaps were generated from original drawings produced by children in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Four measures of visual balance were computed, and the balancing center, or focal point was specified. / In a series of multiple regression analyses, it was determined that, on the average, chronological age differences had no effect on a child's ability to produce drawings within the range of balance considered to be aesthetically pleasing by Arnheim and others. These results support the rejection of a Piagetian developmental hypothesis that pictorial organizational skills are low in early childhood, and gradually increase over time. They are, however, in step with the Gestalt theory that the ability to impose organization on perceptual stimuli is an inborn capacity, or due to very early learning. / Preferences for focal point placement were not explained by differences in chronological age. A cluster analysis of the balancing center coordinates in the drawings suggests that children in Kindergarten through sixth grade generally show a strong bias for balancing pictures around a focal point close to the geometric center of picture space. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-11, Section: A, page: 3521. / Major Professor: F. J. King. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78092 |
| Contributors | Delicio, Gail Celeste., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 134 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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