Oppositeness in visually perceived forms

Two experiments investigated the oppositeness between simple geometric figures, with children and adult participants. Various transformations of a figure were studied, obtained by transforming one or more qualities into their opposite properties. In Experiment I participants were asked to produce an opposite figure and in Experiment 2 to recognize the most opposite of a figure in figure pair presentation. Results showed that axis transformations generated obvious oppositeness in figures with a salient axis orientation. In Experiment I , children also tended to favor Size and Surface transformation, while adults favored Shape transformation (equilateral-to-elongated and angular-toround). These transformations, however, turned out to be less popular in the recognition task (Experiment 2). A general non-additive effect of combined transformations on the perception of oppositeness was found. Various anisotropies in the direction (e.g.: from small to large and viceversa) were identified in both production and recognition tasks.