Effects of Color Reversal of Figure and Ground Drawing Materials on Drawing Performance

Abstract

Children with spastic cerebral palsy, who often have difficulties with visual motor tasks, produced significantly better drawings when the color of black and white figure and ground drawing materials was reversed (i.e., using white pencil on black paper). The control group of normal children did not display the improved performance on the reversed color figure-ground format. It is hypothesized that the children with cerebral palsy, when working on the black background, may have been less distracted by the brightness of the background, and therefore better able to concentrate on the figure that they were drawing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.