By the time children are 3 years old they already have an adult-like preference for visual fractal patterns commonly seen in nature, according to researchers.

That discovery emerged among children who’ve been raised in a world of Euclidean geometry, such as houses with rooms constructed with straight lines in a simple non-repeating manner, said the study’s lead author Kelly E. Robles, a doctoral student in the UO’s Department of Psychology.

«Unlike early humans who lived outside on savannahs, modern-day humans spend the majority of their early lives inside these humanmade structures,» Robles said. «So, since children are not heavily exposed to these natural low-to-moderate complexity fractal patterns, this preference must come from something earlier in development or perhaps are innate.»

The study published online Nov. 25 in the Nature journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communication. In it, researchers explored how individual differences in processing styles may account for trends in fractal fluency. Previous research had suggested that a preference for fractal patterns may develop as a result of environmental and developmental factors acquired across a person’s lifespan.

In the UO study, researchers exposed participants — 82 adults, ages 18-33, and 96 children, ages 3-10 — to images of fractal patterns, exact and statistical, ranging in complexity on computer screens.

Exact fractals are highly ordered such that the same basic pattern repeats exactly at every scale and may possess spatial symmetry such as that seen in snowflakes. Statistical fractals, in contrast, repeat in a similar but not exact fashion across scale and do not possess spatial symmetry as seen in coastlines, clouds, mountains, rivers and trees. Both forms appear in art across many cultures.

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Oregon. Original written by Jim Barlow. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.