Seeing and scribbling: A computer representation of the relationship between perception and action in young children's drawing

Children's drawings typically bare little resemblance to conventional perspective projections. It is suggested that their deviation from ''photo-realism'' is due in part to the emerging relationship between perception and action. Thus a young child's drawing of the world is unlike a passive mechanical projection because the process of drawing is intimately related to the needs of developing action within the world. Here this relationship is explored through a proposed computer programme called for (Emergence of representation) that endeavours, in a simplified way, to learn to draw like a young child. Eor is motivated by the goal of transferring qualities into its drawing. Each drawing for generates is perceived by the programme and categorised according to for's history. This categorisation embraces the perception of the drawing and the action that generated it. This lets for generate the appropriate drawing action to represent a particular quality.