Visually Scaling Distance from Memory: Do Visible Midline Boundaries Make a Difference?

We examined how 4- to 5-year-old children and adults use perceptual structure (visible midline boundaries) to visually scale distance. Participants completed scaling and no scaling tasks using learning and test mats that were 16 and 64 inches. No boundaries were present in Experiment 1. Children and adults had more difficulty in the scaling than no scaling task when the test mat was 64 inches but not 16 inches. Experiment 2 was identical except visible midline boundaries were present. Again, participants had more difficulty in the scaling than no scaling task when the test mat was 64 inches, suggesting they used the test mat edges (not the midline boundary) as perceptual anchors when scaling from the learning to the test mat.