Young children's perception of implied motion portrayal in still photographs

120 kindergarten and first grade children were classified by developmental level based upon the results of the Purdue Conservation Test. Subsequently subjects judged whether or not the content of 64 static photographic pictorial stimuli (16 per subject) contained action. In addition to the still items, three types of implied motion cues were included as stimuli, frozen content, blurred content, and frozen content with blurred background. Main effects for both age and developmental level were found as well as interactions of each of the between-group variables with motion cues, the repeated factor. The results suggest that cognitive-developmental differences in young children as well as difference in age may explain how children come correctly to perceive dynamic elements in static photographs.