Browsing by Author "Matos, Rita Cordovil de"
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- Environment perception and child safetyPublication . Matos, Rita Cordovil de; Barreiros, João Manuel PardalThis dissertation addresses some aspects of child safety grounded on an ecological psychology framework. The investigation of risk affordances was nested in children’s behavior in specific environments, and not merely on a strict dimension-morphology ground. Reaching and climbing skills were analyzed for their relevance to child safety. Adult’s perception of children’s affordances was repeatedly investigated in reaching tasks indicating that adult’s can make reasonable accurate predictions about children’s action limits, but estimation errors and error tendency depend upon the characteristics of the observer, of the child, and of the task. Perceptual experience seems to play an important role in caregivers’ attunement to the information that specifies children’s affordances. One single observation of the child’s action was enough to significantly reduce estimation error, particularly in least accurate perceivers. One chapter replicated a common drowning condition: children trying to retrieve a toy in the water from the swimming pool deck. Different action modes were used but most children sat and fell in while attempting to grasp beyond their reaching limits. Two studies investigated the climbing affordances of safety barriers for children, pointing to an easy and fast crossing of common panel and horizontal bar barriers. Results also indicated that safety devices must consider body dimensions and motor skill. This thesis contributes to a better understanding of children’s behavior in potentially risky environments, as well as an insight into the adults’ perception of children’s action limits.