Abstract
Purpose :
To describe developent of geometric perception in school-age children (5–18 years) in urban areas of Anyang, central China.
Methods :
Here we studied the developmental status of geometric perception in school-age children (5–18 years) using a geometric visual perceptual task. A total of 1792 children from grade 1 aged around 6 years old to grade 12 aged around 18 years old completed a geometric perceptual task, in which four stimulus namely Euclidean property, Affine property, Topological property and Projective property were designed. All the subjects were asked to report which quadrant was different from the rest of these four stimulus as quickly as possible and the mean reaction time(RT) of each stimulus of chirdren were automatically recorded via the computer. They were also measured with comprehensive ophthalmologic examination.
Results :
The study present experimental data to demonstrate the topological dominance theory in geometric perception proposed by Professor Chen Lin, which is stratified with respect to structural stability defined by Klein's Erlangen Program. Among all the age groups, the mean reaction time(RT) of Topological property (average RT 945ms in grade one) were significantly shorter than those with other stumilus. From grade one to grade four, it is found that the reaction time of Affine property (with the RT 1565ms in grade one) was superior over Projective property (with the RT 1801ms in grade one), and the mean reaction time of the four stimulus could be concluded as Topological property < Projective property < Euclidean property < Affine property. While the mean reaction time from grade five to grade twelve were as follows: Topological property< Projective property < Affine property < Euclidean property, which demonstrate a clear transition at the response time of Affine property and Euclidean property between younger children and adolescence.
Conclusions :
We found that the visual perceptual ability develops as children's age increases and immaturity in the geometric perception persists until grade five approximately 11 years of age.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.