Seven experiments with a total of 480 subjects indicated that subjects visually imaging classical ambiguous figures have difficulty reconstructing the images, and that their construal of the image strongly influences what is depicted within the image. Image content, rather than image inspection, appears to be selective. (SLD)

Two hypotheses were tested in this study: (1) that the elaborateness of children's descriptions would increase with grade level, and (2) that there would be a decrease in peripheral descriptions and an increase in central descriptions with grade level. A total of 211 kindergarten through eighth-grade students were instructed to describe an adult…

Butler (1980) compared errors representing intrusions and mislocalizations on 3x3 letter displays under pattern-mask versus no-mask conditions and found that pattern masking increased character mislocalization errors (naming a character in the display but not in the target position as being the target) over intrusion errors (naming a character not…

The extent to which sex differences on a mental rotation test were related to ocular dominance, handedness, and familial handedness was explored. The Vandenberg revision of the Shepard-Metzlar mental rotation test was administered to 206 college students. The test consisted of 20 criterion figures, each followed by two correct and two incorrect…

This experiment asked whether infants at 5 months perceived an invariant over four types of rigid motion (perspective transformations), and thereby differentiated rigid motion from deformation. Four perspective transformations of a sponge rubber object (rotation around the vertical axis, rotation around the horizontal axis, rotation in the frontal…

Meanings given to the term "perception" are discussed in this paper and two categories of perception theories having implications for instructional media research are identified. One category is described as extroverted because it includes theories primarily concerned with characteristics of external stimuli and the influence that the…

This paper highlights the need for a systematic, content aware, and theoretically-based approach to test design. The cognitive components approach is endorsed, and is applied to the development of a computerized perceptual speed test. Psychometric literature is reviewed and shows that: every major multi-factor theory includes a clerical/perceptual…

The perceptual bases of visual literacy are explored, drawing on research into the interpretation of pictures by viewers not familiar with pictorial representation. Research has indicated that inexperienced viewers do not find it difficult to recognize pictures that may be discrepant in color or shape from a familiar object, but may be troubled by…

This study was designed to examine relationships between three variables of analysis/integration skill in visual perception and the tendency to retain differentiated memories of sequential visual images in a sample of 206 university undergraduates. Correlation techniques and factor analysis were used to analyze relationships between the perceptual…

The field dependency/independency construct (FDI) was measured using tests of perception of the upright such as the Rod and Frame Test (RFT) and tests of cognitive restructuring such as the Hidden Figures Test (HFT); relationships between cognitive restructing and perception of the upright were investigated. High school seniors received 34 tests…

This paper reviews the research literature regarding the importance of Witkin's theory of psychological differentiation, particularly the research on measures of field independence using perceptual disembedding tasks. The first phase of development of a multiple-choice perceptual disembedding measure, the Finding Embedded Figures Test, is…

This study explored the relationships among age, gender, depth of sport experience, and coincidence anticipation performance for 42 children 3- to 9-year-old from high middle and socioeconomic backgrounds. The task involved observing light illumination moving down the track of a Bassin Timer. Depth of sport experience was evaluated by the amount…

This study identified the cognitive style (as defined by the construct of field independence/dependence) of prospective teachers at Eastern Kentucky University and identified instructional strategies reflective of the field independent/dependent dimension of cognitive style. In the 1984 Fall Semester the Group Embedded Figures Test was…

While researchers have made progress in understanding metaphor comprehension, less is known about the production of metaphoric language. College students (N=129) were asked to use metaphoric comparisons to describe 16 topics. They were told to imagine themselves on a trip, writing home to someone they knew well, either a peer or a child (students…

Witkin's concepts of field dependence-independence and restructing are discussed with reference to studies in Russia and in the Netherlands. These concepts are related to differences in style of perception and to success on both cognitive tasks and social tasks. It is suggested that restructing abilities may be trained and restructing ability may…