Symbolic Understanding I: Pictorial Competence

Symbolic understanding is the ability to use symbols—like words or images—to represent objects or concepts that are not physically present.

One part of symbolic understanding is the growth of pictorial competence, the ability to understand what pictures represent.

For example, when children recognize a yellow circle with rays as the sun, they show pictorial competence.

Infants as young as 4 months stare longer at “impossible objects,” such as images of cubes, suggesting early perceptual sensitivity to three-dimensional structure.

Between 7 and 12 months, their understanding is still developing. Infants at this age do not use real-world knowledge when viewing pictures and show no clear preference for oddly sized objects.

Until about 15 months, they may treat pictures like physical objects, often patting, rubbing, or trying to lift them as if they were real items.

By around 19 months, children begin to understand that pictures are symbols. For example, they may point to a picture and say the name of the object shown.

By age 2, children understand that a picture is both an object and a symbol.