Students in grades two, four, six, and college sorted abstract visual patterns that varied both in amount of contour and in type of visual organization (unstructured, simple symmetries, multiple symmetries, and rotational). Results suggested that children attend to both amount of contour and visual organization, but that attention to visual…

Results of two experiments minimizing verbal encoding and response demands indicate that when the ceiling effects in no-mask target recognition are removed, the visual information processing rates for children and adults can be considered equivalent. (Author/RH)