Drawing the spatial relationships between the features composing a human face: Objectively measured errors and evaluations of perception-based and memory-based theoretical accounts of drawing accuracy
Item
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Title
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Drawing the spatial relationships between the features composing a human face: Objectively measured errors and evaluations of perception-based and memory-based theoretical accounts of drawing accuracy
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:15f88365ef53:11965
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identifier
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12637
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Creator
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Ostrofsky, Justin,
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Contributor
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Aaron Kozbelt
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Cognitive psychology | Psychology | Artists | Drawing | Faces | Long-Term Memory | Perception | Spatial Relationships
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Abstract
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A series of studies is described, which aims to understand the psychological factors associated with the accuracy of observational drawings of the spatial relationships between the major features found in a face. Study 1 presents an objective measurement scheme that quantifies drawing errors for multiple spatial relationships. Results reveal that the errors in drawing multiple spatial relationships were reliably biased in single directions, such as drawing the face too round, the eyes too far up the face, and the nose too narrow. Study 2 aimed to determine if a major source of such errors involves how the spatial relationships between facial features are represented in long-term memory. Results showed that long-term memory representations of such spatial relationships contain systematic directional biases that are similar to those observed in an observational drawing task. Further, several spatial relationships in a memory-based drawing task reliably predicted their depiction in an observation-based drawing task, suggesting that observational drawing performance is partially guided by top-down processing of information in long-term memory. Study 3 evaluated whether misperception of the model stimulus contributes to the production of drawing errors. Participants observationally drew images of upright and rotated faces. As with patterns of perceptual error, participants erred more in drawing the vertical position of the eyes in upside down faces relative to upright faces; no such effect was observed for drawing the inter-ocular distance. Also similar to patterns of perceptual error, participants erred more in drawing the vertical position of the eyes in 90 degree rotated faces compared to upright faces. However, the finding that the inter-ocular distance was drawn more accurately for 90 degree rotated faces relative to upright faces contrasts with previous findings that the inter-ocular distance is perceived less accurately in 90 degree rotated faces. These studies demonstrate the benefits of complementing subjective accuracy ratings with objective measurements of drawing errors in research investigating the psychological processes associated with drawing performance. Unlike subjective ratings of drawing accuracy, objective measurements allow analyses of specific drawing errors, including allowing one to determine the specific types of drawing errors that are affected by experimental manipulations and that are predicted by performance in non-drawing tasks.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
