Developmental Trends in Visuospatial Analysis and Planning: I. Copying a Complex Figure

An existing scoring system was used to assess the accuracy of the children's ability to copy the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure. The authors also developed additional measures to more precisely describe the process used by children in copying this figure. The findings suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 9 break the figure up into simple components but improve in their ability to integrate the figure with age. Younger children demonstrated a similar pattern of performance when copying the main features of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure in isolation. The results of this study suggest that when faced with tasks requiring more advanced types of spatial analysis, children adopt strategies that proved successful when they were younger. Children have a variety of spatial analytic strategies available by age 6, but the strategy that they use is a function of pattern complexity and the capabilities of the child.