ArticleNature reviews psychology2023
Drawing as a versatile cognitive tool.
Article in Nature reviews psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shared memories of event details in the human brain are altered by misinformation and test expectations.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- The veil of distraction: Mind-wandering and memorability jointly shape visual recognition and recall.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Reclaiming the writing process using AI: a scaffolded writing assignment that promotes critical thinking, reflection, and accountability.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Drawing Animals in the Paleolithic: The Effect of Perspective and Abbreviation on Animal Recognition and Aesthetic Appreciation.Topics in cognitive science · 2026Article
- Engineering Pareidolia: Mental Imagery, Perceptual Scaffolding, and Visual Creativity.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Memory specificity through visual production: Multimodal recognition and source memory misattributions.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Article
- Drawings of THINGS: A large-scale drawing dataset of 1854 object concepts.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- The temporal and spatial properties of memorability reveal insights into the art creation process.Cognition · 2026Article
- The psychophysics of style.Nature human behaviour · 2025Article
- Line drawings as a tool to probe edge sensitivity in natural scenes.Journal of vision · 2025Article
- Characterizing internal models of the visual environment.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Probing Visual Literacy Skills Reveals Unexpected Student Conceptions of Chromosomes.CBE life sciences education · 2025Article
- Drawing as a means to characterize memory and cognition.Memory & cognition · 2025Article
- Shape Guides Visual Pretense.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2025Article
- Grounding of abstract concepts related to power.Memory & cognition · 2025Article
- Probing visual literacy skills reveals unexpected student conceptions of chromosomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Experimental insights into cognition, motor skills, and artistic expertise in Paleolithic art.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Toward a theory of perspective perception in pictures.Journal of vision · 2024Review
- More than words: can free reports adequately measure the richness of perception?Neuroscience of consciousness · 2024Article
- Visual art therapy for cognitive and emotional enhancement in aging and dementia: A structured narrative review.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reportsReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Drawing is a cognitive tool that makes the invisible contents of mental life visible. Humans use this tool to produce a remarkable variety of pictures, from realistic portraits to schematic diagrams. Despite this variety and the prevalence of drawn images, the psychological mechanisms that enable drawings to be so versatile have yet to be fully explored. In this Review, we synthesize contemporary work in multiple areas of psychology, computer science and neuroscience that examines the cognitive processes involved in drawing production and comprehension. This body of findings suggests that the balance of contributions from perception, memory and social inference during drawing production varies depending on the situation, resulting in some drawings that are more realistic and other drawings that are more abstract. We also consider the use of drawings as a research tool for investigating various aspects of cognition, as well as the role that drawing has in facilitating learning and communication. Taken together, information about how drawings are used in different contexts illuminates the central role of visually grounded abstractions in human thought and behaviour.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.