Reconstructing, recognizing, and reproducing object figures: a fixed order.

In this study it is hypothesized that there are three distinct levels of representation and that these levels are hierarchical. The hypothesis was tested by having 100 six-year old boys and girls represent one of the most basic Bender-Gestalt figures. It was demonstrated that a representation of this figure through object reconstruction is prerequisite to recognizing the object figure from a collection of figures which in turn is prerequisite to representing the object figure using a pencil-and-paper reproduction.