The development of object processing in visual perception and action has not been examined in as
much detail in children as in adults. We do not know whether children also use different strategies
when they process multidimensional objects via perception and action. However, some studies have
examined whether the context in which children perceive an object and act on it influences their object
processing. Hanisch and colleagues (2001), for example, examined the effect of the Ebbinghaus
illusion on 5- to 12-year-olds’ perceptions and actions compared with those of adults. The Ebbinghaus
illusion is a contextual illusion because the size of context circles (i.e., either small or large circles)
influences the perceived size of a target circle. Hanisch and colleagues found an illusion effect in adults
when they estimated the size of the target circle (perception task) but not when they grasped the target
circle (action task). These results indicate that adults process the size of the target object in interaction
with the size of the context objects in perception but do so independently in action. The
findings in children deviated from those in adults because the context circles affected children’s perceptual
estimations and grasping movements. Furthermore, the illusion effect on grasping was stronger
in younger children compared with older children. These action task results indicate a
developmental trend in object processing from an interactive processing strategy to an independent
processing strategy.