How 9-month-old crawling infants profit from visual-manual rotations in a mental rotation task

Studies show that visual-manual object exploration influences spatial cognition, and specifically mental rotation performance in infancy. The current work with 9-month-old infants investigated which specific exploration procedures (related to crawling experience) support mental rotation performance. In two studies, we examined the effects of two different exploration procedures, manual rotation (Study 1) and haptic scanning (Study 2), on subsequent mental rotation performance. To this end, we constrained infants’ exploration possibilities to only one of the respective procedures, and then tested mental rotation performance using a live experimental set-up based on the task used by Moore and Johnson (2008). Results show that, after manual rotation experience with a target object, crawling infants were able to distinguish between exploration objects and their mirror objects, while non-crawling infants were not (Study 1). Infants who were given prior experience with objects through haptic scans (Study 2) did not discriminate between objects, regardless of their crawling experience. Results indicated that a combination of manual rotations and crawling experience are valuable for building up the internal spatial representation of an object.     

Real three-dimensional objects: effects on mental rotation

The current experiment investigated real three-dimensional (3D) objects with regard to performance on a mental rotation task and whether the appearance of sex differences may be mediated by experiences with spatially related activities. 40 men and 40 women were presented with alternating timed trials consisting of real-3D objects or two-dimensional illustrations of 3D objects. Sex differences in spatially related activities did not significantly influence the finding that men outperformed women on mental rotation of either stimulus type. However, on measures related to spatial activities, self-reported proficiency using maps correlated positively with performance only on trials with illustrations whereas self-reported proficiency using GPS correlated negatively with performance regardless of stimulus dimensionality. Findings may be interpreted as suggesting that rotating real-3D objects utilizes distinct but overlapping spatial skills compared to rotating two-dimensional representations of 3D objects, and real-3D objects can enhance mental rotation performance.     

Dynamic orientation cues decrease the viewpoint cost of mental rotation

Mental rotation, as a covert simulation of motor rotation, could benefit from spatial updating of object representations. We are interested in what kind of visual cue could trigger spatial updating. Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of dynamic and static orientation cues on mental rotation, using a sequential matching task with three-dimensional novel objects presented in different views. Experiment 1 showed that a rotating orientation cue with constant speed reduced viewpoint costs in mental rotation. Experiment 2 extended this effect with a varied-speed rotating orientation cue. However, no such benefit was observed with a static orientation cue in Experiment 3. These findings indicated that a visually continuous orientation cue is sufficient to elicit spatial updating in mental rotation. Furthermore, there may be differences in the underlying mechanisms of spatial updating on the basis of constant-speed rotating cues and varied-speed rotating cues.     

Applications of mental rotation figures of the Shepard and Metzler type and description of a mental rotation stimulus library

The 3D cube figures used by Shepard and Metzler [Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701-703] have been applied in a broad range of studies on mental rotation. This note provides a brief background on these figures, their general use in cognitive psychology and their role in studying spatial behavior. In particular, it is pointed out that large sex differences with the 3D mental rotation figures tend to be observed only in particular tasks, such as the Vandenberg and Kuse test [Vandenberg, S. G., & Kuse, A. R. (1978). Mental rotations, a group test of three-dimensional spatial visualization. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 599-604] that involve multiple figures within a single problem. In contrast, pairwise presentation of the same 3D figures yields either small or no significant sex differences. In the context of the very broad range of ongoing research done with 3D figures, and the desirability of uniformity in the stimulus material used, we introduce a library of 16 cube mental rotation figures, each presented in orientations ranging from 0 to 360 degr in 5 degr steps, and with its mirror image, for a total of 2336 figures. This library, freely available to researchers, will help in the creation of mental rotation tasks both for presentation on the computer screen and for pencil and paper applications.     

Distinct patterns of viewpoint-dependent BOLD activity during common-object recognition and mental rotation

A fundamental but unanswered question about the human visual system concerns the way in which misoriented objects are recognized. One hypothesis maintains that representations of incoming stimuli are transformed via parietally based spatial normalization mechanisms (eg mental rotation) to match view-specific representations in long-term memory. Using fMRI, we tested this hypothesis by directly comparing patterns of brain activity evoked during classic mental rotation and misoriented object recognition involving everyday objects. BOLD activity increased systematically with stimulus rotation within the ventral visual stream during object recognition and within the dorsal visual stream during mental rotation. More specifically, viewpoint-dependent activity was significantly greater in the right superior parietal lobule during mental rotation than during object recognition. In contrast, viewpoint-dependent activity was significantly greater in the right fusiform gyrus during object recognition than during mental rotation. In addition to these differences in viewpoint-dependent activity, object recognition and mental rotation produced distinct patterns of brain activity, independent of stimulus rotation: object recognition resulted in greater overall activity within ventral stream visual areas and mental rotation resulted in greater overall activity within dorsal stream visual areas. The present results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that misoriented object recognition is mediated by structures within the parietal lobe that are known to be involved in mental rotation.     

Are implicit affective evaluations related to mental rotation performance?

Conscious and unconscious emotions are related to mental rotation. In this study, we investigated if also unconscious emotional evaluations of the stimuli are related to mental rotation performance. 114 students (39 men, 75 women) solved implicit and explicit affective evaluations and a psychometric mental rotation test with cube and pellet figures. Furthermore, the use of spatial toys, the stereotyping of spatial abilities, and the self-rating in spatial abilities were registered. The mental rotation test with pellet figures was more difficult than the one with cube figures. Mental rotation performance was predicted by the self-rating of spatial abilities. For the cube figures, it was additionally predicted by the implicit affective evaluation of those figures. The results did not differ between men and women. The study provides evidence for a relation between affective emotional evaluations and mental imagery processes, although this does not hold true for all stimulus types.     

Breaking new ground in the mind: an initial study of mental brittle transformation and mental rigid rotation in science experts

The current study examines the spatial skills employed in different spatial reasoning tasks, by asking how science experts who are practiced in different types of visualizations perform on different spatial tasks. Specifically, the current study examines the varieties of mental transformations. We hypothesize that there may be two broad classes of mental transformations: rigid body mental transformations and non-rigid mental transformations. We focus on the disciplines of geology and organic chemistry because different types of transformations are central to the two disciplines: While geologists and organic chemists may both confront rotation in the practice of their profession, only geologists confront brittle transformations. A new instrument was developed to measure mental brittle transformation (visualizing breaking). Geologists and organic chemists performed similarly on a measure of mental rotation, while geologists outperformed organic chemists on the mental brittle transformation test. The differential pattern of skill on the two tests for the two groups of experts suggests that mental brittle transformation and mental rotation are different spatial skills. The roles of domain general cognitive resources (attentional control, spatial working memory, and perceptual filling in) and strategy in completing mental brittle transformation are discussed. The current study illustrates how ecological and interdisciplinary approaches complement traditional cognitive science to offer a comprehensive approach to understanding the nature of spatial thinking.     

Dissociating viewpoint costs in mental rotation and object recognition

In a mental rotation task, participants must determine whether two stimuli match when one undergoes a rotation in 3-D space relative to the other. The key evidence for mental rotation is the finding of a linear increase in response times as objects are rotated farther apart. This signature increase in response times is also found in recognition of rotated objects, which has led many theorists to postulate mental rotation as a key transformational procedure in object recognition. We compared mental rotation and object recognition in tasks that used the same stimuli and presentation conditions and found that, whereas mental rotation costs increased relatively linearly with rotation, object recognition costs increased only over small rotations. Taken in conjunction with a recent brain imaging study, this dissociation in behavioral performance suggests that object recognition is based on matching of image features rather than on 3-D mental transformations.     

The nature of gestures' beneficial role in spatial problem solving

Co-thought gestures are hand movements produced in silent, noncommunicative, problem-solving situations. In the study, we investigated whether and how such gestures enhance performance in spatial visualization tasks such as a mental rotation task and a paper folding task. We found that participants gestured more often when they had difficulties solving mental rotation problems (Experiment 1). The gesture-encouraged group solved more mental rotation problems correctly than did the gesture-allowed and gesture-prohibited groups (Experiment 2). Gestures produced by the gesture-encouraged group enhanced performance in the very trials in which they were produced (Experiments 2 & 3). Furthermore, gesture frequency decreased as the participants in the gesture-encouraged group solved more problems (Experiments 2 & 3). In addition, the advantage of the gesture-encouraged group persisted into subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesturing was prohibited: another mental rotation block (Experiment 2) and a newly introduced paper folding task (Experiment 3). The results indicate that when people have difficulty in solving spatial visualization problems, they spontaneously produce gestures to help them, and gestures can indeed improve performance. As they solve more problems, the spatial computation supported by gestures becomes internalized, and the gesture frequency decreases. The benefit of gestures persists even in subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesture is prohibited. Moreover, the beneficial effect of gesturing can be generalized to a different spatial visualization task when two tasks require similar spatial transformation processes. We concluded that gestures enhance performance on spatial visualization tasks by improving the internal computation of spatial transformations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Gender, level of spatial ability, and lateralization of mental rotation

The present study indicates that some of the inconsistencies in studies of the lateralization of mental rotation may be a consequence of uncontrolled individual differences in the general level of spatial ability. In order to investigate the relation between spatial ability and the lateralization of mental rotation, 48 subjects (24 males and 24 females) were divided into three groups based on their performance on a standardized test of spatial ability. They then performed a lateralized two-dimensional mental rotation task. The results showed the typical mental rotation function in that angle of rotation and reaction time were linearly related. A significant spatial ability by visual field interaction indicated that subjects with low spatial ability had a left field advantage, whereas subjects with medium spatial ability showed no field advantage and subjects with high spatial ability showed a right field advantage. Gender also interacted with visual field, with males showing a left visual superiority and females an insignificant right visual field advantage. A significant three-way interaction of gender, spatial ability, and angle of rotation reflected the fact that low spatial males were more profoundly affected by rotation than the other groups. The results suggest that at least some of the inconsistent findings in studies of lateralization of mental rotation may be accounted for by differences in the level of spatial ability.     

Haptic mental rotation revisited: multiple reference frame dependence

The nature of reference frames involved in haptic spatial processing was addressed by means of a haptic mental rotation task. Participants assessed the parity of two objects located in various spatial locations by exploring them with different hand orientations. The resulting response times were fitted with a triangle wave function. Phase shifts were found to depend on the relation between the hands and the objects, and between the objects and the body. We rejected the possibility that a single reference frame drives spatial processing. Instead, we found evidence of multiple interacting reference frames with the hand-centered reference frame playing the dominant role. We propose that a weighted average of the allocentric, the hand-centered and the body-centered reference frames influences the haptic encoding of spatial information. In addition, we showed that previous results can be reinterpreted within the framework of multiple reference frames. This mechanism has proved to be ubiquitously present in haptic spatial processing.     

Improved mental rotation by near-sighted subjects

Several studies have shown significant correlations among factors such as sex, age, and hormone levels with performance on mental rotation tasks. To perform spatial rotation also seems to be related to cognitive abilities such as musical skills. The present experiment investigated a possible relationship for enhanced spatial abilities, as observed in near-sighted subjects, with mental rotation performance. 39 near-sighted and 21 normal-sighted subjects were tested on a mental rotation task using two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects. Near-sighted subjects displayed fewer errors in possible rotations than normal-sighted subjects. There was no difference in errors between groups in identification of mirror images ("impossible rotations"). Results were interpreted in terms of a relation between enhanced reliance on nonvisual information by near-sighted subjects and improved spatial representation.     

Early contributions to infants’ mental rotation abilities

Some cognitive abilities exhibit reliable gender differences, with females outperforming males in specific aspects of verbal ability, and males showing an advantage on certain spatial tasks. Among these cognitive gender differences, differences in mental rotation are the most robust, and appear to be present even in infants. A large body of animal research suggests that gonadal hormones, particularly testosterone, during early development could contribute to this gender difference in mental rotation. Also, substantial evidence supports an influence of socialization on mental rotation performance. The present study investigated the relationship of two types of factors, early postnatal testosterone exposure and parental attitudes about gender, to mental rotation performance in 61 healthy infants (29 males, 32 females). We measured salivary testosterone at two time points: 1–2.5 months of age and 5–6 months of age. Infants’ mental rotation performance and parents’ attitudes about gender were assessed at 5–6 months of age. As predicted, testosterone concentrations were significantly higher in boys than girls in early infancy (d = 0.54), and boys performed significantly better than girls on mental rotation (d = 0.64). A significant positive correlation between testosterone at age 1–2.5 months and mental rotation was found only in boys (r = 0.50, p = .01). A significant negative correlation between parents’ gender‐stereotypical attitudes and mental rotation performance was found only in girls (r = ?.57, p = .002). These findings suggest that the early postnatal testosterone surge (also known as “mini‐puberty”) may have organizational influences on mental rotation performance in boys, and that parents may influence their daughters’ mental rotation abilities beginning very early in life.     

Age-related similarities and differences in monitoring spatial cognition

Spatial cognitive performance is impaired in later adulthood but it is unclear whether the metacognitive processes involved in monitoring spatial cognitive performance are also compromised. Inaccurate monitoring could affect whether people choose to engage in tasks that require spatial thinking and also the strategies they use in spatial domains such as navigation. The current experiment examined potential age differences in monitoring spatial cognitive performance in a variety of spatial domains including visual–spatial working memory, spatial orientation, spatial visualization, navigation, and place learning. Younger and older adults completed a 2D mental rotation test, 3D mental rotation test, paper folding test, spatial memory span test, two virtual navigation tasks, and a cognitive mapping test. Participants also made metacognitive judgments of performance (confidence judgments, judgments of learning, or navigation time estimates) on each trial for all spatial tasks. Preference for allocentric or egocentric navigation strategies was also measured. Overall, performance was poorer and confidence in performance was lower for older adults than younger adults. In most spatial domains, the absolute and relative accuracy of metacognitive judgments was equivalent for both age groups. However, age differences in monitoring accuracy (specifically relative accuracy) emerged in spatial tasks involving navigation. Confidence in navigating for a target location also mediated age differences in allocentric navigation strategy use. These findings suggest that with the possible exception of navigation monitoring, spatial cognition may be spared from age-related decline even though spatial cognition itself is impaired in older age.     

Organizational versus geometric factors in mental rotation and folding tasks

The criteria used in performing mental rotation or mental folding tasks were studied with a paradigm that did not involve reaction times. The hypothesis was that, when perceptual-organizational factors come into conflict with the geometric features required for the correct execution of such tasks, it is the former that prevail. To verify this hypothesis two experiments were carried out. In experiment 1, subjects were asked to imagine quadrilaterals rotating round a rotation axis at different inclinations. Their responses were dependent both on the degree of tilt of the rotation axis and on the degree of tilt of the quadrilateral with respect to the rotation axis. Experiment 2 consisted of the mental execution of a folding task. In this case too, the responses depended on the degree of tilt of the folding axis and also on the complexity of the stimulus outline. In both experiments responses were divided into two groups: (i) geometrically correct responses and (ii) responses which, although incorrect, were based on perceptual-organizational criteria. In the light of the results, some theoretical implications regarding transformation operations executed by means of mental images are discussed.     

Do sequence-space synaesthetes have better spatial imagery skills? Maybe not

Sequence-space synaesthesia is a type of visuo-spatial imagery in which numbers or calendar units are experienced to occupy locations in space. Previous studies have claimed that these synaesthetes (1) have stronger self-reported visual (but not spatial) imagery and (2) perform unusually well on mental rotation tasks that are usually taken to reflect spatial (but not visual) imagery. To further investigate whether this form of synaesthesia is related to spatial imagery, we compared synaesthetes to controls on the Object Spatial Imagery Questionnaire, a paper folding test and a mental rotation task. The synaesthetes did not differ from controls in self-reported spatial imagery, but showed a strong trend to report better visual imagery, replicating previously reported data patterns. Consistent with this, their paper folding and mental rotation performance was no better than controls. We also confirmed that, in our pooled sample, performance on both these tasks was positively correlated with self-reported spatial imagery. We suggest our data are more consistent with the view that sequence-space synaesthesia is related to visual than to spatial imagery, and we suggest reasons why previous studies may have found superior mental rotation performance.     

Dissociation between the mental rotation of visual images and motor images in unilateral brain-damaged patients

Deficits in the mental rotation of body parts and of external objects can be doubly dissociated (Rumiati, Tomasino, Vorano, Umiltà, & De Luce, 2001; Sirigu & Duhamel, 2001; Tomasino, Rumiati, & Umità, in press). The aim of this study was to replicate this finding and to then investigate the relevance of the specific hemispheres in these deficits. Nine patients with unilateral lesions (five in the Left Hemisphere and four in the Right) and 20 control subjects, performed a single task requiring mental rotation of hands, and two tasks requiring mental rotation of external objects. RH patients were impaired in the rotation of external objects, but showed intact performance on the rotation of hands; the opposite pattern was found for LH patients. These results support the view that the LH contributes to the mental rotation of hands, recruiting processes specific to motor preparation, while the RH is specialized for mental rotation of external objects.     

Implicit transfer of motor strategies in mental rotation

Recent research indicates that motor areas are activated in some types of mental rotation. Many of these studies have required participants to perform egocentric transformations of body parts or whole bodies; however, motor activation also has been found with nonbody objects when participants explicitly relate the objects to their hands. The current study used positron emission tomography (PET) to examine whether such egocentric motor strategies can be transferred implicitly from one type of mental rotation to another. Two groups of participants were tested. In the Hand-Object group, participants performed imaginal rotations of pictures of hands; following this, they then made similar judgments of pictures of Shepard-Metzler objects. The Object-Object group performed the rotation task for two sets of Shepard-Metzler objects only. When the second condition in each group (which always required rotating Shepard-Metzler objects) was compared, motor areas (Area 6 and M1) were found to be activated only in the Hand-Object group. These findings suggest that motor strategies can be covertly transferred to imaginal transformations of nonbody objects.     

Fear and anxiety modulate mental rotation

We used an emotional priming paradigm to investigate whether fear and anxiety modulate mental rotation of abstract three-dimensional objects (i.e., Shepard-Metzler figures). On each trial, participants viewed pairs of objects and decided whether the objects had the identical shape by mentally rotating the one on the right into congruence with the one on the left. The participants viewed a picture of a face—fearful or neutral—briefly before the pairs of objects appeared. Participants with high state anxiety, and not those with low state anxiety, rotated the objects more quickly after they saw fearful faces than after they saw neutral faces. This result not only documents that fear can improve mental rotation but also shows that this effect is modulated by the emotional arousal of the participants.     

The role of meaning and familiarity in mental transformations

Eighty-four participants mentally rotated meaningful and meaningless objects. Within each type of object, half were simple and half were complex; the complexity was the same across the meaningful and meaningless objects. The patterns of errors were examined as a function of the type of stimuli (meaningful vs. meaningless), complexity, and angle of rotation. The data for the meaningful objects showed steeper slopes of rotation for complex objects than that for simple objects. In contrast, the simple and complex meaningless objects showed comparable increases in error rates as a function of angle of rotation. Furthermore, the slopes remained comparable after pretraining that increased familiarity with the objects. The results are discussed in terms of underlying representations of meaningful and meaningless objects and their implications to mental transformations. The data are consistent with a piecemeal rotation of the meaningful stimuli and a holistic rotation of the meaningless stimuli.