Evidence of Chunking in a Simple Drawing Task

Abstract

Are perceptual chunks in memory central to the process of drawing? This study adopts a simple transcription drawing task in which patterns of dots are viewed and reproduced. Data from two experiments (Haladjian & Mathy, 2015) are re-analysed for evidence of chunking. Chunking was evident with long stimuli exposure time but not short (\(\le \)200 ms). With more opportunity to chunk, various temporal and spatial signals suggest the occurrence chunking, including: actions are temporally clustering into groups with sizes of typical chunks; pauses between actions are longer with long exposure than with short exposure; spatial locations of responses are sometimes clustered as simple geometric shapes; clusters of responses are more likely to occur at the start or end of trials.