How children perceive fractals: hierarchical self-similarity and cognitive development.

ABSTRACT: The ability to understand and generate hierarchical structures is a crucial component of human cognition, available in language, music, mathematics and problem solving. Recursion is a particularly useful mechanism for generating complex hierarchies by means of self-embedding rules. In the visual domain, fractals are recursive structures in which simple transformation rules generate hierarchies of infinite depth. Research on how children acquire these rules can provide valuable insight into the cognitive requirements and learning constraints of recursion. Here, we used fractals to investigate the acquisition of recursion in the visual domain, and probed for correlations with grammar comprehension and general intelligence. We compared second (n=26) and fourth graders (n=26) in their ability

SUBMITTER: Martins MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4148595 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature