title: Factors affecting accuracy of perception on a task requiring the ability to identify viewpoints.
abstract: A study was undertaken to determine the relative contribution of age, sex, and three stimulus features (board shape, block arrangement, and block shape) to perceptual accuracy on 39 board/block adaptations of Piaget's three-mountain task. The sample consisted of 830 children (420 1st graders and 410 5th graders) and 130 college students. Stimulus features of the board/block task accounted for between 22% and 26% of the explained variability among accuracy scores; however, interactions of other factors with age were nonsignificant. When data from college students were combined with children, a curvilinear developmental relationship between age and perceptual accuracy was obtained. The board/block task has promise as an instrument for longitudinal studies.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D012737:Sex Factors; D012858:Size Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception