Effects of Stimulus Type and Strategy on Mental Rotation Network: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis.

Barbara Tomasino,Michele Gremese

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00693

Abstract

We can predict how an object would look like if we were to see it from different viewpoints. The brain network governing mental rotation (MR) has been studied using a variety of stimuli and tasks instructions. By using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis we tested whether different MR networks can be modulated by the type of stimulus (body vs. non-body parts) or by the type of tasks instructions (motor imagery-based vs. non-motor imagery-based MR instructions). Testing for the bodily and non-bodily stimulus axis revealed a bilateral sensorimotor activation for bodily-related as compared to non-bodily-related stimuli and a posterior right lateralized activation for non-bodily-related as compared to bodily-related stimuli. A top-down modulation of the network was exerted by the MR tasks instructions with a bilateral (preferentially sensorimotor left) network for motor imagery- vs. non-motor imagery-based MR instructions and the latter activating a preferentially posterior right occipito-temporal-parietal network. The present quantitative meta-analysis summarizes and amends previous descriptions of the brain network related to MR and shows how it is modulated by top-down and bottom-up experimental factors.

Highlights

Imagining scenes, sounds and actions, in the absence of appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception, takes place through mental imagery (Kosslyn et al, 1995, 2001)
We addressed whether mental rotation (MR) of body-part and MR of whole body can be distinguished in terms of fMRI activation
When directly comparing the strategy account to the reference frame variable we found that motor-imagery based MR activated the left superior parietal lobule, the right postcentral gyrus (Areas 1, 2, and 3b) and the precentral gyrus/middle and superior frontal gyrus bilaterally, and the left inferior occipital gyrus, whereas the egocentric MR activated the left cuneus, the left middle temporal gyrus, the left lingual gyrus and calcarine sulcus, and the right cerebellum

Summary

Introduction

Sounds and actions, in the absence of appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception, takes place through mental imagery (Kosslyn et al, 1995, 2001). These images can be combined and modified in novel ways. A proportional relationship was found between the angle of rotation and the time people needed to make a decision These results suggest that subjects form a visual image of an object and rotate this image until it is congruent with the target stimulus. RTs for MR of body parts reflect the degree of awkwardness of the picture orientation (Parsons, 1987), because subjects imagine a spatial transformation of their own body part and report kinesthetic sensations (Parsons, 1987)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion