Tactual discrimination thresholds for shape and texture in young children

Abstract

Discrimination thresholds for shape and texture were obtained in kindergarten and third-grade children. Pairs of shapes (ellipses) and textures (sandpaper patches) were presented to the children who judged whether the stimuli were the same or different from each other. The stimuli were presented in two different embedding contexts. The texture pairs covered the entire perceptual field or were confined to the top of a constant shape. The shape pairs were presented as plain Masonite cut-outs or were covered with a constant grit sandpaper. There was a significant increase with age in sensitivity to texture but not to shape. However, the variability in sensitivity to shape did show a decrease with age. The rougher stimuli were easier to discriminate than the smooth stimuli by both age under all conditions in texture discriminations. Results of replication studies with adults and blind children showed no overall significant differences from the normally sighted third graders.