The Goldmeier effect in adults and children: environmental, retinal, and phenomenal influences on judgments of visual symmetry.

Adults judge that patterns symmetrical about the vertical axis are more similar to standard patterns symmetrical about both major orthogonal axes than are patterns which are symmetrical only about the horizontal axis (the Goldmeier effect). Thus, symmetry about the vertical axis is more salient for adults than symmetry about the horizontal axis. Two experiments are reported in which subjects from three age groups (preschool, 8 years old, and adult) were given Goldmeier problems under different conditions. In experiment 1 three head-tilt conditions were used (0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees); in experiment 2 there were four conditions defined by head orientation (0 degrees, 90 degrees) and phenomenal instructions (top of figure at 0 degrees or at 90 degrees). In both experiments, increasing head tilt from 0 degrees decreased the consistency with which the environmentally vertical pattern was chosen. Noncorrespondence between the three spatial frameworks (environmental, retinal, and phenomenal) failed to produce biases in favor of either retinal-egocentric or phenomenal systems. For rotated adult subjects in experiment 2, 0 degrees phenomenal instructions strengthened an environmental bias, and 90 degrees phenomenal instructions shifted responses toward a retinal bias. These findings provide strong refutation of explanations for symmetry perception that are based solely upon the anatomical symmetry of the visual system. The data also fail to support arguments for environmental or phenomenal frameworks as singular influences. The results are best explained in terms of failure of constancy mechanisms to coordinate environmental and retinal information as a function of degree of head rotation and stimulus complexity.