On the relationship between partial occlusion drawing, M capacity and field independence

Abstract

Five pairs of objects with different degrees of similarity, one partly occluded by the other, were presented to 119 children (5–8 years old) as models for drawing. Participants were also tested for M capacity and field independence. The results showed a pattern of relationships between M capacity and partial occlusion drawing, exactly consistent with the predictions derived from Morra, Angi, and Tomat's (1996) model. As predicted, field independence was also related to partial occlusion drawing. A detailed analysis of field independence scores revealed that, out of three measures (rod‐and‐frame, children's embedded figures test, and block design), only embedded figures showed a relationship with drawings that was still significant when M capacity and the other two field independence measures were partialled out. Following PascualLeone's (1989) neo‐Piagetian model of field independence, this divergence among tests was interpreted as an indication of a figurative misleading field effect in the partial occlusion drawing task.