Art students who cannot draw: Exploring the relations between drawing ability, visual memory, accuracy of copying, and dyslexia

Article


McManus, C., Chamberlain, R., Loo, P., Rankin, Q., Riley, H. and Brunswick, N. 2010. Art students who cannot draw: Exploring the relations between drawing ability, visual memory, accuracy of copying, and dyslexia. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 4 (1), pp. 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017335
TypeArticle
TitleArt students who cannot draw: Exploring the relations between drawing ability, visual memory, accuracy of copying, and dyslexia
AuthorsMcManus, C., Chamberlain, R., Loo, P., Rankin, Q., Riley, H. and Brunswick, N.
Abstract

Some art students, despite being at art school, cannot draw very well, and would like to be able to draw well. It has been suggested that poor drawing may be a particular problem for students with dyslexia (and a high proportion of art school students is dyslexic). In Study 1 we studied 277 art students, using a questionnaire to assess self-perceived drawing ability and a range of background measures, including demography, education, a history of dyslexia, a self-administered spelling test, and personality and educational variables. In Study 2 we gave detailed drawing tests to a sample of 38 of the art students, stratified by self-rated drawing ability and spelling ability, and to 30 control participants. Students
perceiving themselves as good at drawing did indeed draw better than self-perceived poor drawers, although the latter were still better than non-art student controls. In neither Study 1 nor Study 2 did skill at drawing relate to dyslexia or spelling ability, and neither did drawing ability relate to any of our wide range of background measures. However Study 2 did show that drawing ability was related both to ability at copying simple angles and proportions (using the “house” task of Cain, 1943), and also to visual memory (as suggested by Jones, 1922), poor drawers being less good at both immediate and delayed
recall of the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure.

Keywordsart students; drawing ability; visual memory; Rey-Osterrieth complex; figure dyslexia
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA)
JournalPsychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
ISSN1931-3896
Electronic1931-390X
Publication dates
PrintFeb 2010
Publication process dates
Deposited19 May 2010
Output statusPublished
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017335
Web of Science identifierWOS:000277457500004
LanguageEnglish
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