Drawings as memory aids: Optimising the drawing method to facilitate young children's recall

Detecting the veracity of children's experiences through drawings

Research is lacking regarding adults' ability to determine whether children's drawings are based on an experience or not. Drawings are useful in professional settings to alleviate linguistic demands, facilitate memory, and have been used as evidence. Determining the accuracy of veracity assessments of children's drawings would inform professionals regarding their use as evidence of experiences. Twenty-eight children (14 younger, Mage = 7.53 years, SDage = 1.19; 14 older, Mage = 11.67 years, SD = 1.27) produced drawings of two events: one staged experienced, and one narrative-based not experienced event. Fifty (Study 1, Mage = 23.72 years, SDage = 9.70) and 63 (Study 2, Mage = 25.92, SDage = 12.79) adults indicated whether each drawing was based on experience and their confidence in each assessment. In Study 2, additional drawing quality assessments were collected. Results indicated that adults were more accurate at distinguishing experienced than not experienced drawings for older artists. An inverse relationship was observed between confidence and accuracy-participants were more confident when they were inaccurate, especially for younger artists. Drawing quality improved with age and for drawings of experienced events. Adults tended to rate drawings of higher quality as resulting from experience leading to the highest accuracy for drawings from older artists that were based on experience. Overall, results suggest that there may be some features of drawings that allow for above chance levels of accuracy (up to 75%). However, rates are not high enough across assessments (M = 53.93%, range: 39%-75%) to reliably use them as indicators of experience.

The benefits of role play in the development of drawing in preschool children

Objective

The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the benefits of role play based on a Historical-Cultural perspective with the implementation of symbolic elements generated by the development of drawing of preschool children from suburban origin in a group of normal Mexican preschool children. We predict that the quality of the drawings will be improved after the preschoolers participate in such a role play program.

Methods

A pre-experimental study was carried out, with pre-test and post-test assessments. The drawings were assessed with quantitative (frequencies of the quality of the parameters) and qualitative (characteristics of the children's drawings) methods. The role play program was based on Elkonin's method, activity theory, and P. Ya Galperin's formation by stages of mental actions. The program encouraged the use of graphic signs and symbols, with the intention of representing situations, actions, objects, and/or contents. Twenty-six preschool children participated in our study.

Results

To know the effect of the role play program with symbolic elements on the drawing of preschool children, we performed a quantitative and qualitative analysis, a Wilcoxon test contrast between the initial and final assessment. Both analyses showed a significant increase in the scores in all the tasks with a medium-large effect size, being the largest "Pictograms" and "Drawing of the route"; and in the analysis of the qualitative parameters, specifically in "Maintains the objective," a significant increase was found in all the tasks.

Discussion

Role play, being the main activity in preschool age, develops all aspects of the child's psychic life. The importance of role play in a preschool child makes it possible to work in the zone of proximal development with the regulatory function of language, with the planning, execution, and control of playful activity and, most importantly, with the use of various materials and perceptual-graphics tools. These findings showed an improvement in the development and complexity of the symbolic function in the drawings.

Conclusion

Role play, as a work methodology in preschool age, leads to the use of new meaning systems that prepare the child to carry out present and future complex symbolic actions.

The Experiences of Chinese Children 5- to 7-year-old during cancer Treatment Reflected Through Interviews and Drawings

Background: For children with cancer, the experience during treatment can be challenging. There is a limited number of studies on self-reported treatment experiences of younger Chinese children with cancer using qualitative methods. Objectives: This study aimed at exploring the experience of Chinese children aged 5 to 7 years during cancer treatment reflected through interviews and drawings. Methods: This study used a descriptive qualitative design with the technique of "draw-and-tell." Participants were enrolled from the pediatric oncology inpatient department of one national children's medical center in China. They were asked to draw a picture of "your feelings in the hospital." An inductive content analysis approach was used. Results: Twelve participants were enrolled (8 male, mean age 5.7 years). Four themes were established: (1) suffering from adverse treatment effects; (2) perceiving changed relationships; (3) being thankful for others; and (4) trying out coping strategies. Conclusion: Chinese children aged 5 to 7 years expressed multiple cancer treatment impacts. They appreciated others' support and had their own way to cope with treatment demands. The authors also extended the dynamic nature of using the "draw-and-tell" methodology. Study findings highlight the importance of inviting and hearing the voice of young children during their cancer treatment, with particular consideration of the influence of disease, treatment, child development, family dynamics, and culture.

Depicting emotions for a male or for a female audience: Do children adapt the content of their drawings to the audience gender?

When depicting emotions, children have been shown to alter the content of their drawings (e.g., number and types of expressive cues) depending on the characteristics of the audience (i.e., age, familiarity, and authority). However, no study has yet investigated the influence of the audience gender on children’s depiction of emotions in their drawings. This study examined whether drawing for a male versus for a female audience have an impact on the number and type of emotional information children use to depict sadness, anger, and fear. Children aged 7 ( N = 92) and 9 ( N = 126) were asked to draw a figure and then to produce three drawings of a person, to depict three emotions (sadness, anger, fear). Children were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: they were instructed either to draw with no explicit mention of an audience (control condition) or to draw so that the depicted emotion would be recognized by a male (male audience condition) or by a female (female audience condition). A content analysis was conducted on children’s drawings, revealing the use of seven types of graphic cues for each emotion. We found numerous differences between the three conditions relative to the type of cues used by children to depict emotions, particularly for anger and fear and particularly at the age of 7. Overall, children used facial cues more frequently for a female audience and contextual cues more frequently for a male audience. These results are discussed in terms of their implications in clinical, educational, and therapeutic settings.

Can drawings facilitate symbolic understanding of figurative language in children?

Understanding figurative language develops during middle childhood. Drawing can facilitate recall and may aid other aspects of linguistic expression. We examined whether children provide more symbolic interpretations of figurative statements in drawings relative to verbal explanations, and whether drawing facilitates overall symbolic interpretation. Ninety-six children were split into three age groups (5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 years) in a between-subjects design. In the 'draw-first' condition, they were asked to depict then explain figurative statements (e.g., raining like cats and dogs), and in the 'explain-first' condition, children were asked to explain before drawing. We coded for symbolic or literal content. Overall, children provided more symbolic responses for verbal explanations compared to drawings, with a developmental increase. More symbolic responses occurred in the 'draw-first' condition compared to other task by condition combinations, suggesting drawing can facilitate subsequent symbolic verbal explanation. We discuss the links between drawings, figurative language, and development. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Understanding figurative language such as metaphor develops during childhood. Drawing has been shown to aid recall and may aid other aspects of linguistic expression. What the present study adds? Drawing figurative expressions facilitates subsequent symbolic verbal explanations. Children provide more symbolic interpretations in verbal explanations compared to drawings. There is a developmental progression in these abilities.

Expressivity in children's drawings of themselves for adult audiences with varied authority and familiarity

This study investigated whether children's expressive drawings of themselves vary as a function of audience authority and familiarity. One hundred and seventy-five children, 85 boys and 90 girls, aged between 8 years 1 months and 9 years 2 months (M = 8 years 5 months) were allocated into seven groups: a reference group (n = 25), where no audience was specified, and six audience groups (n = 25 per group) varying by audience type (policeman vs. teacher vs. man) and familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar). They drew baseline then happy and sad drawings of themselves, rated affect towards drawings type, and rated perceived audience authority. Audience familiarity and authority impacted expressive drawing strategy use and this varied by gender. There was higher overall expressive strategy use for happy drawings and for girls, and influences of affect type, familiarity, and authority were found. The implications of children's perceptions of audience type on their expressive drawings are discussed. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children vary their happy and sad expressive drawings for familiar peer and adult audiences. They show more positive expressivity to familiar peer and adult audiences. Children perceive authority differently depending on professional roles. What does this study add? Children's expressive drawings differ depending on audience familiarity and professional role. Greater expressivity for familiar than unfamiliar audiences, with difference varying by perceived authority. For policemen, boys showed more sad expression when unfamiliar and girls showed more happy expression when familiar.

Comparing the effects of drawing and verbal recall techniques on children's memory accounts

The present study compared the amount and accuracy of information Taiwanese children reported about a staged event in verbal-only and drawing-assisted interviews. We also tested further whether verbosity was a valid indicator of the accuracy of children's memory reports (Koriat & Goldsmith, , ) in a non-Western sample. Eighty-four first-grade elementary school children participated in a staged event involving a novel interactive puppet show followed by a drawing activity (drawing of the target event or the school), and were subsequently given a 10-minute memory interview. They were randomly assigned to a verbal cued-recall interview condition or a drawing-assisted interview condition. We did not find significant differences in the amount and accuracy of details reported between the two interview conditions. Our findings also revealed that the quantity of children's reports was positively related to the number of correct details reported, indicating that the children in our study did not demonstrate a quantity-accuracy tradeoff.

There's a creepy guy on the other end at Google!: engaging middle school students in a drawing activity to elicit their mental models of Google

Although youth are increasingly going online to fulfill their needs for information, many youth struggle with information and digital literacy skills, such as the abilities to conduct a search and assess the credibility of online information. Ideally, these skills encompass an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the ways in which a system, such as a Web search engine, functions. In order to investigate youths’ conceptions of the Google search engine, a drawing activity was conducted with 26 HackHealth after-school program participants to elicit their mental models of Google. The findings revealed that many participants personified Google and emphasized anthropomorphic elements, computing equipment, and/or connections (such as cables, satellites and antennas) in their drawings. Far fewer participants focused their drawings on the actual Google interface or on computer code. Overall, their drawings suggest a limited understanding of Google and the ways in which it actually works. However, an understanding of youths’ conceptions of Google can enable educators to better tailor their digital literacy instruction efforts and can inform search engine developers and search engine interface designers in making the inner workings of the engine more transparent and their output more trustworthy to young users. With a better understanding of how Google works, young users will be better able to construct effective queries, assess search results, and ultimately find relevant and trustworthy information that will be of use to them.

Drawing the answers: Sketching to support free and probed recall by child witnesses and victims with autism spectrum disorder

The success of witness interviews in the criminal justice system depends on the accuracy of information obtained, which is a function of both amount and quality of information. Attempts to enhance witness retrieval such as mental reinstatement of context have been designed with typically developed adults in mind. In this article, the relative benefits of mental and sketch reinstatement mnemonics are explored with both typically developing children and children with autism. Children watched a crime event video, and their retrieval of event information was examined in free and probed recall phases of a cognitive interview. As expected, typically developing children recalled more correct information of all types than children with autism during free and probed recall phases. Sketching during free recall was more beneficial for both groups in both phases in reducing the amount of incorrect items, but the relative effect of sketching on enhancing retrieval accuracy was greater for children with autism. The results indicate the benefits of choosing retrieval mnemonics that are sensitive to the specific impairments of autistic individuals and suggest that retrieval accuracy during interviews can be enhanced, in some cases to the same level as that of typically developing individuals.

Drawing a close to the use of human figure drawings as a projective measure of intelligence

The practice of using children's human figure drawings (HFDs) to assess their intellectual ability is pervasive among psychologists and therapists in many countries. Since the first systematic scoring system for HFDs was published in 1926, their continued popularity has led to the development of several revised versions of the test. Most recently, the Draw-A-Person Intellectual Ability Test for children, adolescents, and adults (DAP:IQ) was published. It is the most up-to-date form of HFD test designed to assess intellectual functioning across a wide age range. In the present study, we assessed the validity of the DAP:IQ as a screening measure of intelligence in both children and adults. In Experiment 1, 100 4- to 5-year-old children completed the DAP:IQ and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Third Edition. In Experiment 2, 100 adults completed the DAP:IQ and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. In both experiments, we found only weak to modest correlations between scores on the DAP:IQ and the Wechsler tests. Furthermore, when we compared individual's scores on the two tests, the DAP:IQ yielded high false positive and false negative rates when screening for borderline and superior intellectual functioning. Based on these findings, and based on the lack of validity of previous HFD tests, we conclude that practitioners should not rely on HFD tests as a projective measure of intelligence.