Mental Rotation Task Research Articles

Slower but more accurate mental rotation performance in aphantasia linked to differences in cognitive strategies

Mental rotation tasks are frequently used as standard measures of mental imagery. However, aphantasia research has brought such use into question. Here, we assessed a large group of individuals who lack visual imagery (aphantasia) on two mental rotation tasks: a three-dimensional block-shape, and a human manikin rotation task. In both tasks, those with aphantasia had slower, but more accurate responses than controls. Both groups demonstrated classic linear increases in response time and error-rate as functions of angular disparity. In the three-dimensional block-shape rotation task, a within-group speed-accuracy trade-off was found in controls, whereas faster individuals in the aphantasia group were also more accurate. Control participants generally favoured using object-based mental rotation strategies, whereas those with aphantasia favoured analytic strategies. These results suggest that visual imagery is not crucial for successful performance in classical mental rotation tasks, as alternative strategies can be effectively utilised in the absence of holistic mental representations.

Unpacking associations among children’s spatial skills, mathematics, and arithmetic strategies: decomposition matters

Several studies revealed links between mental rotation and mathematical tasks, but the intervening processes in this connection remain rather unexplored. Here, we aimed to investigate whether children’s mental rotation skills relate to their accuracy in solving arithmetic problems via their usage of decomposition strategies, thus probing one potential intervening process. To this end, we examined a sample of 6- to 8-year-olds (N = 183) with a chronometric mental rotation task, and asked children to solve several arithmetic problems while assessing their solution strategies. After each arithmetic problem, children were asked about their strategy to solve the respective arithmetic problem and these were classified as either counting, decomposition, or retrieval strategies. Analyses were controlled for age, sex, fluid and verbal reasoning. Results indicated that children’s response times and accuracy in the mental rotation task were best explained by linear functions of rotation angle, suggesting the usage of dynamic mental transformation strategies. A multiple mediation model revealed that children with higher mental rotation skills were more inclined to use higher-level mental strategies such as decomposition which in turn increased their accuracy of solving arithmetic problems. None of the other arithmetic strategies revealed significant indirect effects. These findings suggest that children with higher mental rotation skills may profit from visualizing and flexibly transforming numerical magnitudes, increasing the frequency of decomposition strategies. Overall, decomposition may play a unique role in the connection between children’s mental rotation and arithmetic skills, which is an essential information for planning future training and experimental studies.

Mental rotation and language in autism spectrum disorder.

Though visuospatial skills are often considered a relative strength in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), unexplained difficulties relative to neurotypical (NT) peers have also been observed. Dissociations between spatial cognition and language skills in ASD may explain these difficulties given that these systems are linked in NT individuals. The current study examined performance on a mental rotation task that systematically varied stimulus features and the degree to which performance was associated with language in ASD relative to NT peers. Participants were children and young adults with ASD and 25 pairwise age- and IQ-matched NT peers (p's>0.53). The mental rotation task involved four conditions: two-dimensional (2D) abstract figures, three-dimensional (3D) abstract figures, 2D common objects, and 3D common objects. Structural language was measured using the grammar subscale from the Test of Language Development: Intermediate adapted for Norwegian. Mixed-effects model results indicated that autistic individuals were less accurate and had slower reaction time across mental rotation task conditions than NT peers. Language was associated with mental rotation accuracy for both groups across conditions, but with reaction time only for the NT group. The current study demonstrated selective associations between language and performance on a classic spatial cognition task in autistic individuals. Namely, there was a dissociation between language and in-the-moment efficiency in the ASD group, and this dissociation may reflect a broader dissociation between visuospatial and language systems.

Visuospatial Function in Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.

Background/Objectives: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is an understudied psychiatric condition affecting reproductive-age women who experience negative mood in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Cognitive functions in PMDD are not well understood as patients have been tested in the luteal phase. This may confound study results due to noted emotional interferences, as well as the potential opposing effects of the sex hormones estradiol and progesterone. In the present study, we evaluated visuospatial function in the follicular phase in women with PMDD and healthy controls, and further examined the effect of estradiol as research into the hormonal mediation of visuospatial function in reproductive-age women has produced mixed results. Methods: To this end, we analyzed estradiol concentrations using the gold standard mass spectrometry. Serum samples were collected in the early follicular and mid/late follicular subphases when estradiol is low and high, respectively, while progesterone is low and steady. We assessed visuospatial function using the classic mental rotation task. Results: Women with PMDD had a higher mental rotation total score (t = 2.17; p < 0.05). The addition of six demographic, biological, and anthropomorphic variables in a hierarchical fashion accounted for 45.3% of the total variance in the final model with diagnosis remaining statistically significant (t = 4.36; p < 0.001). Estradiol did not mediate the group difference and was not significantly associated with visuospatial function. Conclusions: The present results provide support for new research directions into the potential biological mechanisms that underlie the pathophysiology of PMDD, represented as enhanced visuospatial ability in women with PMDD in the follicular phase. We review the theory that PMDD is a disorder of the enhanced excitation-to-inhibition ratio, with a focus on findings to date from brain imaging research.

Individual differences in emerging adults’ spatial abilities: What role do affective factors play?

Spatial ability is defined as a cognitive or intellectual skill used to represent, transform, generate, and recall information of an object or the environment. Individual differences across spatial tasks have been strongly linked to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interest and success. Several variables have been proposed to explain individual differences in spatial ability, including affective factors such as one’s confidence and anxiety. However, research is lacking on whether affective variables such as confidence and anxiety relate to individual differences in both a mental rotation task (MRT) and a perspective-taking and spatial orientation task (PTSOT). Using a sample of 100 college students completing introductory STEM courses, the present study investigated the effects of self-reported spatial confidence, spatial anxiety, and general anxiety on MRT and PTSOT. Spatial confidence, after controlling for effects of general anxiety and biological sex, was significantly related to performance on both the MRT and PTSOT. Spatial anxiety, after controlling for effects of general anxiety and biological sex, was not related to either PTSOT or MRT scores. Together these findings suggest some affective factors, but not others, contribute to spatial ability performance to a degree that merits advanced investigation in future studies.

Changes in the excitability of anterior horn cells in a mental rotation task of body parts.

Mental rotation (MR), a tool of implicit motor imagery, is the ability to rotate mental representations of two- or three-dimensional objects. Although many reports have described changes in brain activity during MR tasks, it is not clear whether the excitability of anterior horn cells in the spinal cord can be changed. In this study, we examined whether MR tasks of hand images affect the excitability of anterior horn cells using F-wave analysis. Right-handed, healthy participants were recruited for this study. F-waves of the right abductor pollicis brevis were recorded after stimulation of the right median nerve at rest, during a non-MR task, and during an MR task. The F-wave persistence and the F/M amplitude ratio were calculated and analyzed. Twenty participants (11 men and 9 women; mean age, 29.2 ± 4.4 years) were initially recruited, and data from the 18 that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The F-wave persistence was significantly higher in the MR task than in the resting condition (p = .001) or the non-MR task (p = .012). The F/M amplitude ratio was significantly higher in the MR task than in the resting condition (p = .019). The MR task increases the excitability of anterior horn cells corresponding to the same body part. MR tasks may have the potential for improving motor function in patients with reduced excitability of the anterior horn cells, although this methodology must be further verified in a clinical setting.

Does dynamic balance affect cube mental rotation task in badminton vs. volleyball female players?

BackgroundChanging from a static to a dynamic balance condition could affect the performance of a cognitive task such as mental rotation. Thus, the main goal of this study is to investigate aspects of visual-spatial cognition between two non-contact sports (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in different upright conditions (i.e., standing position, frontal balance, and sagittal balance).MethodsThirty-five volunteer female sports and physical education students, fourteen specialists in badminton and twenty-one specialists in volleyball agreed to participate in this study. Each of the assessments was a 3D cube mental rotation task with and/or without balance exercises (i.e., frontal and/or sagittal balance) on a wobble board. Five stimuli were used in the mental rotation task (i.e., 45°, 135°, 180°, 225° and 315° for objected-based cube condition with egocentric transformation) which included pairs of standard and comparison images.ResultsThe findings indicate that there was a notable decrease (p < 0.001; d = 1.745) in response time in both dynamic balance conditions (i.e., frontal and sagittal balance) compared to standing position condition. In addition, results revealed significant interaction between balance conditions (i.e., frontal and/or sagittal balance) and groups (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in the response time at 225° angle and in the error percentage.ConclusionsIn sum, dynamic balance is also an activity that involves mental manipulation of objects in 3D space, which can enhance badminton and volleyball female players’ ability to rotate 3D cube stimuli.

Effects of a concurrent maximum performance aerobic exercise test and cognitive task on physical and cognitive performance and effort

ABSTRACT Theoretical models of the effect of aerobic activity on concurrent cognitive tasks predict both impairments and improvements depending on the specific characteristics of the cognitive task. It can be assumed that both aerobic and cognitive tasks share neural resources of limited capacity (such as self-control) or that they interact by confliction or facilitation of brain activation. Detrimental effects are thus expected for cognitive tasks requiring self-control or conflicting brain activation. Effects of cognitive tasks on simultaneous aerobic activity have rarely been investigated, but predictions can be made by adaptations of the same theoretical models. The predicted effects should be enhanced at higher intensities due to increasing drains of neural resources and stronger brain activations. The current study aimed to investigate the interaction of aerobic and cognitive tasks under increasing and maximum physical load. Fifty participants (31 men, 19 women, mean age 22.8 ± 2.6 years) performed two maximum performance cycling tests, one in combination with mental rotation tasks (dual-task condition) and one without a cognitive task (control condition). Cognitive (reaction time, accuracy) and physical (power, cadence) performance, as well as objective (heart rate) and subjective (cognitive and physical ratings of perceived exertion) effort, were measured during the respective tests. The results showed increased cognitive effort during increased physical load and a focus on speed rather than accuracy, which can be interpreted in support of the models. Physical performance, however, could be upheld without increased physiological effort. The physical results contradict the suspected impairment predicted by the adaptations of the theoretical models.

Gender stereotypes in preschoolers' mental rotation.

The investigation of gender stereotypes constitutes a relevant approach to understanding the development of spatial ability and sex differences in the domain. This was the first study concerned with the presence of implicit and explicit gender stereotypes about spatial ability, and their potential relation to spatial task performance, in preschool-aged children. Our full sample consisted of 138 4- to 6-year-old kindergarten children. The experimental procedure consisted of three parts. Children completed an implicit association task, a short questionnaire on explicit stereotypes, and a chronometric mental rotation task. Preschool-aged children held explicit gender stereotypes about spatial ability linking it to boys rather than girls. Boys exhibited stronger stereotypes in this regard than girls. We also found evidence for the presence of implicit stereotypes. However, implicit stereotypes were not found in sub-group analyses. No clear relationship between stereotypes and mental rotation performance emerged, but our results suggest that implicit stereotyping affected mental rotation accuracy differently in girls compared with boys. Our main conclusion was that children already hold stereotypic beliefs about spatial ability at preschool age. There did not seem to be a relationship of stereotyping with spatial ability at this age.

Unveiling the Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Mental Rotation Abilities: A Comparative Analysis of Three-Dimensional vs. Two-Dimensional Tasks

The activational effects of sex hormones on spatial ability have been well documented. It has been suggested that these effects might be related to hormonally induced changes in interhemispheric communication. In this EEG study, we opted to explore menstrual cycle-related changes in the efficacy of solving mental rotation tasks and laterality indices while participants were engaged with the tasks. We compared 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks, as they differ both psychometrically and in terms of lateralization. A group (n = 39) of healthy young women was tested twice, once during the mid-luteal (high estrogen and progesterone) and once during the early follicular (low levels of sex hormones) phase of menstrual cycle. The differences in power within the same frequency band on homologous sites of the left and right hemispheres were then calculated. Participants were faster, more accurate, and showed higher laterality scores when solving 3D mental rotation tasks in the early follicular phase compared to the mid-luteal phase. This indicates a higher lateralization of this specific spatial function when the levels of sex hormones are low. However, for 2D mental rotation tasks, participants showed neither shifts in efficacy nor in hemispheric laterality as a function of the menstrual cycle. This pattern of results provides further support for the notion that fluctuations in sex hormones affect laterality, and consequently, the expression of lateralized cognitive abilities.

Estimating person-specific neural correlates of mental rotation: A machine learning approach.

Using neurophysiological measures to model how the brain performs complex cognitive tasks such as mental rotation is a promising way towards precise predictions of behavioural responses. The mental rotation task requires objects to be mentally rotated in space. It has been used to monitor progressive neurological disorders. Up until now, research on neural correlates of mental rotation have largely focused on group analyses yielding models with features common across individuals. Here, we propose an individually tailored machine learning approach to identify person-specific patterns of neural activity during mental rotation. We trained ridge regressions to predict the reaction time of correct responses in a mental rotation task using task-related, electroencephalographic (EEG) activity of the same person. When tested on independent data of the same person, the regression model predicted the reaction times significantly more accurately than when only the average reaction time was used for prediction (bootstrap mean difference of 0.02, 95% CI: 0.01-0.03, p < .001). When tested on another person's data, the predictions were significantly less accurate compared to within-person predictions. Further analyses revealed that considering person-specific reaction times and topographical activity patterns substantially improved a model's generalizability. Our results indicate that a more individualized approach towards neural correlates can improve their predictive performance of behavioural responses, particularly when combined with machine learning.

Embodied mental rotation ability in open- and closed-skill sports: pilot study with a new virtual paradigm

Embodied mental rotation is the influence of the body on mental rotation ability. Sports expertise enhances embodied mental rotation ability. However, sport-skill-dependent effects remain unclear. Previous studies refer to the influence of body positions on mental rotation ability. Yet, in sports, the investigation of the effect of simultaneous body and mental rotation movements is essential. Athletes need to constantly mentally and physically adapt to environmental changes and new motor tasks while being in motion themselves. This study aimed to investigate embodied mental rotation ability with simultaneous body and mental rotation in individuals with different sport skills, i.e., in open- and closed-skill sports. Forty-eight men and women, divided into two groups depending on their sport, performed 32 trials of an extended embodied mental rotation task. Simultaneous body and mental rotation were enabled by a novel test method including Virtual Reality. Results revealed shorter response times to the task stimulus in closed-skill sports participants than in open-skill sports participants. This group difference was significant for trials in which rotation directions of the own body and the mental rotation stimulus were aligned. The results might be related to sport-specific skill development processes. Motor imitation skills, as relevant in many closed-skill sports, may facilitate cognitive processes when the motion direction of the own body and of the mental rotation stimulus are aligned. The novel test method identifies potential applications that should be increasingly explored in the future, both for cognitive science and sports research.

No role of working memory in the relation between mental rotation and postural stability

This study investigated the relationship between mental rotation ability and postural stability, with a focus on the role of the visuospatial sketchpad of working memory, as it has been found to be correlated with both concepts. A total of 87 healthy young adults completed a postural stability task on a force plate, a mental rotation task, and both spatial and object working memory tasks in a counterbalanced order. Bayesian correlations revealed weak positive correlations between mental rotation and postural stability, as well as a correlation between mental rotation and spatial working memory. A weak association was also observed between mental rotation and object working memory. No correlation was found between the working memory components and postural stability. Furthermore, the results showed that spatial working memory did not play a crucial role in predicting postural stability. We conclude that the visuospatial sketchpad, particularly the spatial working memory component, cannot explain the relationship between mental rotation and postural stability.

Effect of dynamic balance on human mental rotation task in female badminton vs. volleyball players.

The present study aims to compare the mental rotation performance between two non-contact sports (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in different upright conditions (i.e., with and without dynamic balance). Thirty-five female sports and physical education students voluntarily participated in the experiment, including fourteen specialists in badminton and twenty-one specialists in volleyball. The experiment involved a mental body rotation task with or without balance exercises on a wobble board. Badminton players outperformed volleyball players in the mental rotation tasks regardless of balance. More interestingly, the results revealed an overall decrease in reaction times when participants performed balance exercises simultaneously with mental rotation. Our findings suggest that introducing dynamic balance on a wobble board has immediate beneficial effects on the mental rotation performance of female badminton and volleyball players. These findings are discussed in the context of sport specificities and cognitive processing framework.

Supplementary motor area is deactivated during mental rotation tasks with biomechanical constraints in fMRI.

Mental rotation (MR) tasks of body parts involve anatomically interconnected brain systems. The systems are implicated in sensorimotor information integration and activate cortical motor-related areas, corresponding to the execution of similar motor tasks. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of varying the angle in the hand MR task on cerebral activation of the motor-related areas. Twenty healthy right-handed participants were recruited. We investigated cerebral activation while each participant decided whether a hand-palm image, rotated by 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°, was a right or left hand. A significant negative correlation between the angle and brain activity was observed in the right and left supplementary motor area (SMA) and right posterior anterior cingulate gyrus. The SMA was inactivated with 180°- or 270°-rotated images in the regions of interest analysis. 180°- and 270°-rotated palms would be biomechanically difficult to position; thus, SMA deactivation may be closely associated with biomechanical constraints. This study provided novel findings regarding the neurophysiological mechanisms of motor imagery and may be useful in developing treatment plans using MR tasks during patient rehabilitation.

Minding the gap: a sex difference in young infants' mental rotation through thirty degrees of arc.

Mental rotation (MR) is an important feature of spatial cognition invoking mental imagery of an object's appearance when viewed from a new orientation. Prior studies have revealed evidence of MR in infants, including a sex difference similar to that detected in older populations. Some of these studies used visual habituation methods whereby infants were familiarized with an object rotating through a 240° angle, followed by test trials showing either the habituation object or a mirror image object rotating through the previously unseen 120° angle. Significantly longer looking at either of these objects was taken to reflect infants' ability to recognize the habituation object even when seen from a novel viewpoint, suggesting the capacity for MR. However, these infants' responses could, in theory, be explained with reference to perceptual discrimination rather than MR, because the views of the habituation and test objects were very similar in some video frames. In the current study, we observed a diverse population of 5-month-olds (24 females, 24 males) for evidence of MR through 30° of arc. In this more challenging test, our stimuli left a 30° gap angle between critical video frames representing the habituation and test objects. Consistent with earlier reports, we found that relative to female infants, male infants looked significantly longer at the mirror image test stimulus immediately following habituation. These results add to an emerging consensus that some young infants are capable of MR, and that male and female infants on average behave differently in this type of MR task.

Comparative Analysis of Brain Activity during Performing Number Sense and Mental Rotational Tasks: An EEG Study Using sLORETA

This study attempted to find out what differences of the signal sources of brain waves that occurred during performing number sense tasks and mental rotation tasks using sLORETA technology. Twenty students (10 men and 10 women) attending a four-year university in Gyeongsangnam-do were asked to perform six tasks (3 number sense tasks and 3 mental rotation tasks). The EEG brain waves were measured during performing each task and were analyzed by applying to the sLORETA with t-test: paired group test, A-A2=B-B2. The result showed that there were statistically significant differences in theta, alpha, and beta bands between NS1 and NS2, which brain areas included the superior frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal, the anterior cingulate, the extra-nuclear, and the insula. The anterior cingulate and the superior frontal gyrus were the areas that showed a statistically significant difference between SP2 and SP3 in the gamma band. This study examined the difference in brain activity while performing two different types of tasks by applying sLORETA. It will be expected to deepen the cognitive neuroscience understanding of the mathematics learning process for students.

Beyond Gender: Interoceptive Sensibility as a Key Predictor of Body Image Disturbances.

Body image disturbance (BID) involves negative attitudes towards shape and weight and is associated with lower levels of interoceptive sensibility (IS) (the subjective perceptions of internal bodily states). This association is considered a risk factor for developing eating disorders (EDs) and is linked to altered sensorimotor representations of the body (i.e., body schema). BIDs manifest across genders and are currently understudied in men. This study investigated gender-related differences in BID and its relationship to the body schema and IS. Data were collected from 86 men and 86 women. BID was assessed using questionnaires measuring self-objectification, state, and trait body dissatisfaction. IS was measured via the MAIA-2. The body schema was indexed via an embodied mental rotation task. Results showed that women reported higher BID than men across all scales. Gender differences in sub-components of interoceptive sensibility were found. Overall, both gender and interoceptive sensibility predicted BID. However, interoceptive sensibility exhibited its own unique association with BID beyond the influence of gender. BID, IS and gender were not significant predictors of performance in the body schema task. Therefore, while gender predicts differences in BID and interoceptive sensibility, there was no evidence of gender-related differences in body schema.

Anatomical predictors of mental rotation with bodily and non-bodily stimuli: A lesion-symptom study

Mental rotation (MR) is widely regarded as a quintessential example of an embodied cognitive process. This viewpoint stems from the functional parallels between MR and the physical rotation of tangible objects, as well as participants' inclination to employ motor-based strategies when tackling MR tasks involving bodily stimuli. These commonalities imply that MR may depend on brain regions crucial for the planning and execution of motor programs. However, there is disagreement regarding the anatomy of MR between findings from functional imaging and lesion studies involving brain-injured patients. The former indicate the involvement of the right-hemispheric parietal cortex, while the latter underscore the significance of posterior areas in the left hemisphere. In this study, we aimed to discern the neural underpinnings of MR using lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) for both bodily (hands) and non-bodily (letters) stimuli. Behavioral results from the two MR tasks revealed impaired MR of bodily stimuli in patients with left hemisphere damage. LSM results pinpointed the left primary motor and somatosensory cortices, along with the superior parietal lobule, as the anatomical substrates of MR for both bodily and non-bodily stimuli. Furthermore, damage to the left angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, supplementary motor area, and retrosplenial cortex was associated with MR of non-bodily stimuli. These findings support the causal involvement of the left hemisphere in MR and underscore the existence of a common anatomical substrate in brain regions pertinent to motor planning and execution.

A profile of spatial abilities in people with Down syndrome.

Spatial abilities are fundamental cognitive abilities, have direct applications in daily life, serve as a cognitive foundation for many other complex skills and are used in many specialty jobs. The current study aimed to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the spatial abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) relative to mental ability-matched typically developing (TD) children based on Newcombe and Shipley's double-dimension theoretical framework for classifying spatial abilities. Forty adolescents and young adults with DS and 40 TD children completed a nonverbal intelligence test (Raven's), two measures of static-extrinsic skills (water-level task and cart task), two measures of static-intrinsic skills (figure ground and form completion), two measures of dynamic-extrinsic skills (three mountains task and dog task) and two measures of dynamic-intrinsic spatial skills (mental rotation task and block design task). Participants with DS showed reduced performance on two dynamic-intrinsic tasks and one static-extrinsic task (i.e. cart task) relative to TD children. Performances were similar in two dynamic-extrinsic tasks and two static-intrinsic tasks. Analyses of composite accuracy for each spatial category further confirmed deficits in dynamic-intrinsic and static-extrinsic categories for people with DS relative to TD children. Our results showed an uneven profile of spatial abilities in people with DS relative to ability-matched TD children with particular weaknesses in comprehending and manipulating dynamic-intrinsic and static-extrinsic spatial relations. Furthermore, our research has important clinical implications for more targeted interventions to improve spatial abilities in people with DS.