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The Effect of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia on the Cognitive Modelling Process within the Context of Art and Design. Part One: Drawing on Drawing
Abstract and Figures
This paper assumes the following: • That between 15 and 25% of art and design students are dyslexic and /or dyspraxic. (Beverley Steiffert, 1998) • That a high proportion of these students are still under-achieving in higher education (David Grant, 2002) • That cognitive modelling (drawing and model-making) is central to art and design activity. (Bruce Archer, 1978) • That different areas of the brain are engaged when drawing from life and when drawing from imagination. (Passingham 1987.) • That getting clearer about the nature of these differences in cognitive styles will enable more appropriate teaching methods and learning strategies to emerge (Jerome Bruner, 1970) Drawing from life or observation can be likened to copying from a board, which due to the role short-term memory plays, can be a very difficult task for many dyslexic and dyspraxic people. In simple terms, they lose their place (tracking) and forget the words. In addition, drawing from the mind's eye or imagination involves not only being clear about one's own orientation to the image, (can you see all four of the dog's legs or are only three visible?) but also remembering to keep that constant, and knowing where the perimeters are. In other words, selecting, remembering and defining where the representation of the image ends. A programme of exercises was set up in October 2004 by Howard Riley, at the Faculty of Art and Design, Swansea Institute, University of Wales, creating opportunities for students to draw both from life and from imagination guided by a set of instructions.
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... Nevertheless, dyslexia is certainly compatible with producing work of outstanding artistic ability (Aaron & Guillemard, 1993). There are also suggestions that the drawing style of dyslexic art students may be different (Grant, 2008; Rankin et al., 2007; Rankin, Riley, & Davies, 2005). Various explanations have been put forward to explain the high rate of dyslexia on visual arts courses. ...
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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article proposes a systemic-functional semiotic model for the domain of drawing. It is argued that such a model, based upon a synthesis of relevant visual perception theory and visual communication theory, can empower the practice of drawing.
A synthesis of perception theory and communication theory is presented as the basis for a new teaching programme of drawing for first–year fine art undergraduates. The domain of drawing is mapped as a matrix of systems of choices available to the drawer in order to realise the functions of drawing within a social context. It is argued that an increased awareness of this domain may empower students’ practice.
Functional Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging (fMRI) scans of a skilled portrait artist and of a non-artist were made as each drew a series of faces. There was a dis-cernible increase in blood flow in the right-posterior parietal region of the brain for both the artist and non-artist during the task, a site normally associated with facial per-ception and processing. However, the level of activation appeared lower in the expert than in the nov-ice, suggesting that a skilled artist may process facial information more efficiently. In addition, the skilled artist showed greater acti-vation in the right frontal area of the brain than did the novice, which the author posits indicates that such an artist uses higher-or-der cognitive functions, such as the formation of associations and planning motor movements, when viewing and drawing a face.
The material included in this preliminary report has come from several sources but was assembled chiefly during an experimental clinic held by members of the Iowa State Psychopathic Hospital Staff in Greene County, Iowa, in January, 1925. Among those children who were reported to the clinic by their teachers as "dull, subnormal, or failing or retarded in school work" was a fairly high proportion whose chief difficulty was in learning to read. Two of these would fit Hinshelwood's criteria of true "congenital word-blindness," and one of these two cases (M. P.) also gave bizarre written productions.
Because of his striking disability, M. P. was admitted to the State Psychopathic Hospital, and his case was there studied more thoroughly than was possible in the clinic. The results of this study are here reported in full.
Observations suggesting an explanation of one of the factors in this case are recorded from other
The first section of this research based but practical book has been updated to examine the most recent research in two key areas: dyslexia and the dyslexic experience and the major cognitive and learning styles. In the light of increased controversy around the use of learning style theory in the educational arena, suggestions are made as to ways in which these theories can be utilized to inform teaching and learning and maximize success for vulnerable learners. The second section provides a range of ways in which to enable learners to understand and utilize their individual styles along with techniques to help students to absorb, process and create responses to information across the curriculum; practical strategies to help teachers to adapt material to suit differing ways of learning and activities to help students to become more flexible and successful in their approach.
Although new technology is widely used for detailed design and image manipulation, its use in the early stages of visual invention is much less common, one reason being that the denotation systems used in paper-and-pencil sketching assist creativity in ways that are poorly understood. Leonardo da Vinci advocated the use of untidy indeterminacies for working out composition, because he believed that they stimulated visual invention. Recent research in cognitive psychology suggests a mental-imagery model that expands Leonardo's theory and provides evidence for cognitive mechanisms that clarify the function of familiar sketch attributes. Sketches may mediate mental translation between spatially depictive and structurally descriptive modes of visual representation. Evidence for a hybrid percept-image theory of ordinary paper sketching is briefly outlined. Some implications of this theory for the development of improved computer sketching systems are briefly discussed.
The mental processes that al- low an artist to transform visual images—e.g. those of his model— into a picture on the canvas are not easily studied. The authors re- port work measuring the eye and hand movements of a single artist, chosen for his detailed and realis- tic portraits produced from life. His eye fixations when painting or drawing were of twice the duration of those when he was not painting and also quite different from those of novice artists. His eye-hand co- ordination pattern also showed dif- ferences from that of novices, be- ing more temporally consistent. This preliminary work suggests that detailed and quantitative analy- sis of a working artist is feasible and will illuminate the process of artistic creation.
Cognitive mapping is a construct that encompasses those processes that enable people to acquire, code, store, recall, and manipulate information about the nature of their spatial environment. It refers to the attributes and relative locations of people and objects in the environment, and is an essential component in the adaptive process of spatial decision-making--such as finding a safe and quick route to and from work, locating potential sites for a new house or business, and deciding where to travel on a vacation trip. Cognitive processes are not constant, but undergo change with age or development and use or learning.
Image and Environment, now in paperback, is a pioneer study. It brings a new academic discipline to a wide audience. The volume is divided into six sections, which represent a comprehensive breakdown of cognitive mapping studies: "Theory"; "Cognitive Representations"; "Spatial Preferences"; "The Development of Spatial Cognition"; "Geographical and Spatial Orientation"; and "Cognitive Distance." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)