Sunday Observer newspaper report (2010)

CHILDREN: How a child's eye view of the world is formed

The Observer, (London, England)

Sunday 7 November 2010

New scientific research shows that "having a childish take on the world" has less to do with maturity and more to do with the direction of light. Work by Jim Stone from the University of Sheffield demonstrates that children really do see the world differently from adults.

Stone showed a group of children, aged between four and 10, embossed shapes - such as squares and shaded images like footprints - and asked them to judge whether the image was convex or concave.

Whereas adults will always judge the image on the basis that the light is coming from above, children will not automatically make this assumption, although they will do as they grow older. Stone concludes that this is an aspect of a child's visual perception that is not "fully grown" until the age of about 13. "No wonder they can't look at a cloud without seeing a dog or bear" he said.