perceptual development (cross cultural studies)

7/28/2019 Perceptual Development (Cross Cultural Studies)

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Perceptual Development

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Perceptual Development

One way of investigating perceptual development in terms ofnature or nurture is to look at the perceptual abilities of peopleliving in different environments to see how their environmental(cultural) experiences might alter the development of their

perceptual abilities. If such abilities are innate, we should expectpeople living in different environments to develop in the sameway.

Although this information is important to the understanding of

the topic it is not worthy of any marks and so you should onlyuse the information to create an introductory sentence.

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Depth Perception across Cultures

Hudson (1960):

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Hudson (1960)

Method: Experiment

Sample: Bantu, Indian and European Cultures

Procedure: The children were shown various drawings each with an elephant, anantelope and spear.

Results: At the beginning of their primary education ALL children had difficulty

using these depth cues BUT by the end of primary education nearly all the

European children could interpret the depth cues accurately. The Bantu

though still saw the pictures as two-dimensional.

Conclusion: SO not only important in showing how depth perception develops over

time but also highlights cross-cultural differences too. As they did not

perceive depth in the same way it must be learned ability rather than an

innate one (Nurture). 4


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Evaluation (AO2)

However, it was thought that this inability was more to do with

the fact that there were no depth cues such as motion parallax

or texture gradient. The pictures were thought to be more

epitomic than eidolic and thus included no information regarding

depth. The study by Jahoda & McGurk (1974) is more eidolic(uses texture gradients) and this explains why there were more

3D responders than in Hudsons study.

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Support? (AO2)

Jahoda & McGurk (1974):

Using Children from Scotland and Ghana they found that when these depth

cues were included in the pictures perception improved across the board.

Further, older children were able to perceive depth better than the youngerones showing support for development over time.

BUT although cultural differences existed, results did not support the view

that Ghanaian children were more deficient in perceiving pictorial depth.

Conclusion: Any differences could have been due to lack of familiarity with

the conventions of Western Art as opposed to any difficulty in perceiving

depth showing that experience matters (Gregory/nurture). However, this may

be to less of an extent than was originally thought

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Further support (AO2)

Hagen & Jones (1978):

Certain cues such as texture gradient seem more

important to people from non-western cultures and

that these people can quickly learn to interpret

pictorial cues when exposed to formal western

education (nurture). They concluded that the closer toreal life the pictures were the more easily understood

they became.

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However (AO2)

The pictures were more epitomic in nature and so provided no information

regarding depth (e.g. motion parallax or texture gradient).


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Size Constancy in Cross-Cultural Research

Segall (1963):

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Debate

Freewill or Biological Determinism?

Myopia = shortsightedness!

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SO:Nature or Nurture?

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One of the issues here is being able to determine what counts as nature and

what counts as nurture. The visual system of an infant has yet to fully mature

and such physical or innate abilities need to develop with age.

Thus, we cannot claim that any abilities which appear after birth are due to

experience (nurture)

they might be, but they might also be the result of amaturing visual system (nature). In addition, abilities that appear at birth could

be the result of sensory learning in the womb (nurture not nature)!


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Methodological Issues

It is difficult to draw conclusion about perception from studies

using infants. They cannot speak or understand instructions and

may become bored or fatigued quite easily. Such issues have led

to researchers coming up with ingenious methods for testing

perceptual abilities and as such can only make assumptions

about the outcome.

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Exam Question

Discuss the development of perceptual abilities.Include examples from infant and cross-cultural

studies in your answer (8 marks + 16 marks)

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Markscheme

Clear understanding of the implications

of these findings in terms ofperceptual development.

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perceptual development (cross cultural studies)

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