3: Processual examination

Morphological assessments of very early intentional and, thus, formal graphic aspects often prove difficult looking at finished pictures, and corresponding derivations of general conclusions remain questionable as a result. The same applies to morphological assessment of early analogy formations and other relationships of graphic aspects to non-graphic aspects. Therefore, processual studies are required to clarify the critical aspects of interpretation of earliest picture structure. Such studies relate to the actual graphic acting of children and their associated verbal and non-verbal expressions.

Against this background, the present study focuses on two questions:

• Which earliest differentiations of graphic manifestations – as they can be interpreted by adults looking at drawings and paintings as finished products, but which remain problematic in their interpretation – actually prove to be intentional and, thus, formal differentiations on the part of the child doing the drawing, or conversely, prove to be mere traces?
• Which earliest relationships of the graphic and non-graphic aspects – again interpreted by adults looking at drawings and paintings as finished products – can be proven and confirmed in processual studies, or conversely, prove to be non-identifiable from a processual perspective? Do types of such relationships also occur that cannot be recognised in morphological studies?