An investigation of the development and use of memory in representational drawings made by children 5--12 years

This study explores the journey of discovery that the mind takes in its quest to create an observation drawing and to construct a memory of that drawing experience. It is about more than the psychology of cognitive processes; it is really a congeries of stories that shed light on children working from their own minds and listening to their voices.;To support and inform the art education community, this research was designed as a small scale, quasi-empirical study taken from an integrated view of drawing and memory, along with investigation of the representational purpose of lines in children's drawing of an object.;Children ages 5 to 12 years used pencil line to draw an object they observed. After 3 weeks and then 6 months following, each subject made a memory-drawing of the object. Fifty subjects, divided into groups A and B, created an observation drawing. Group B subjects were given an additional task, to draw an imaginary context for the object.;The findings show that children 5 to 8 years took far less time to make the observation drawing than did the children 9 to 12 years. Children from 9 to 12 years showed an increase in drawing time with the observation drawing, an expansion in repertoire of line types called upon, and greater complexity in the representation of features.;The three-week memory-drawings showed an increase of light line use, fewer features and details. The 5- to 7- year-old subjects' memory-drawing at 6 months showed: (a) greater contextual bias, (b) schematicmemory-drawing, and (c) less variety of line types. Six- monthmemory-drawing for subjects 9- to 12- years often showed a greater number of the basic features and imaginative line used for the object.;In addition, half of Group B subjects' drawings contained a variety of trace imagery from the imaginary setting, later incorporated within the memory-drawing of the object. Data from this dissertation are used to argue that all drawing involves memory.;Data reveal that attention, perception, memory information, and imagination combine to bring forth drawing action. Overall, a greater variety of line types to depict features appears in the observation drawings. Memory-drawings reveal increased use of light line and fewer detailed features. Yet memory-drawings retain the schematic ground plan of the imaginatively represented object.