AN EXPLORATORY STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EXAMINE THE NONLINEAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND THEIR INFORMATIONAL ENVIRONMENT. THE FIRST PROBLEM WAS TO MEASURE THE RELATIVE EFFECTS UPON LEARNING OF (1) VISUAL IMAGES PRESENTED NONLINEARLY (CUMULATIVELY OR SIMULTANEOUSLY) AND (2) VISUAL IMAGES PRESENTED LINEARLY (SEQUENTIALLY). EXAMINATION OF THIS…

This study examined the hypothesis that the effective visual field of 5-year-old children is smaller than that of 8-year-old children and adults. In addition, an effort was made to determine whether task demands affect the size of the effective visual field and if so, whether the effects on performance are different for children and adults. A…

This study tested the hypothesis that newborns selectively orient toward angular elements in their visual field. Subjects were 36 awake and alert infants under 6 days of age. For each newborn, the study compared visual attention to three separately presented stimulus patterns: a complete outline triangle, only the sides of this triangle, and only…

The real impact of cinema consists in its ability to translate symbols, the mind's form of language, into dynamic moving images. Man's visual orientation produces both his positive reaction to motion--a key element in cinema--and his perceptions of coded, visual information--symbols. The complex relationship between symbols and rhythmic motion…

A study investigated how children between ages 5 and 11 perceive three types of film transition. A second purpose was to determine if there was an emergent recognition pattern among these three types of film transition devices: image magnification on a cut (a camera transition), lap dissolve (an optical transition), and clean exit (a subject…

A study was devised to determine whether, if color is found superior to black-and-white for communicating dynamic picture content, that superiority can be attributed to the realism of authentic color, or whether that superiority is the effect of the simple presence of color. A sample of 90 sixth grade students were shown slides, half of which…

Fifty 4-month-old infants were habituated to one wavelength of light and then tested for recognition with the original and two new spectral lights. After short- and long-term delays with different types of retroactive interference, the results indicated that the infants' recognition memory for hue was quite resilient to interference or delay. (JMB)

Corneal infrared photography was used to record the visual fixations of 24 infants (4-6 weeks and 10-12 weeks) exposed to simple geometric figures. The results are discussed in relation to developmental changes in responsiveness to visual figures and in increasing ability to process information. (JMB)

Even congenitally blind persons can picture things they have never seen, through an intuitive sense of perspective. (Author/BB)

One practical method which development film makers can adopt to increase comprehension of important scenes is to eliminate extraneous background information by putting it out of focus, or by shooting against plain backgrounds. (Author/STS)

Reaching and retrieving, with and without visual feedback of the hand, were observed in 50 infants ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 months. While failure to see the hand did not completely inhibit reaching and retrieving, it did reduce reaching and retrieving for infants 5 1/2 months and older. (Author/JMB)