Size Constancy in Children: A New Interpretation

Existing evidence indicates that there are differences between children and adults in size constancy when observation distances are large. Findings are reported which suggest that this phenomenon is based on a difference in the accessing of proximal stimulus information, which, in the case of size, refers to visual angle subtended. Age differences were found when a traditional size constancy task was used, but these differences disappeared when all the comparison objects subtended the same visual angle. Since this finding demonstrates that young children can make accurate size matches, it is suggested that the underconstancy previously reported is not necessarily the result of childrens' inability to use fully certain cues to distance. Rather, the findings suggest that children access proximal stimulus information more spontaneously than do adults.