Mental Rotation Task Research Articles

Applying functional near-infrared spectroscopy and eye-tracking in a naturalistic educational environment to investigate physiological aspects that underlie the cognitive effort of children during mental rotation tests.

Spatial cognition is related to academic achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. Neuroimaging studies suggest that brain regions’ activation might be related to the general cognitive effort while solving mental rotation tasks (MRT). In this study, we evaluate the mental effort of children performing MRT tasks by measuring brain activation and pupil dilation. We use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) concurrently to collect brain hemodynamic responses from children’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) and an Eye-tracking system to measure pupil dilation during MRT. Thirty-two healthy students aged 9–11 participated in this experiment. Behavioral measurements such as task performance on geometry problem-solving tests and MRT scores were also collected. The results were significant positive correlations between the children’s MRT and geometry problem-solving test scores. There are also significant positive correlations between dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) hemodynamic signals and visuospatial task performances (MRT and geometry problem-solving scores). Moreover, we found significant activation in the amplitude of deoxy-Hb variation on the dlPFC and that pupil diameter increased during the MRT, suggesting that both physiological responses are related to mental effort processes during the visuospatial task. Our findings indicate that children with more mental effort under the task performed better. The multimodal approach to monitoring students’ mental effort can be of great interest in providing objective feedback on cognitive resource conditions and advancing our comprehension of the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive effort. Hence, the ability to detect two distinct mental states of rest or activation of children during the MRT could eventually lead to an application for investigating the visuospatial skills of young students using naturalistic educational paradigms.

Protective effects of education on the cognitive decline in a mental rotation task using real models: a pilot study with middle and older aged adults

Mental rotation is the ability to rotate objects in one’s mind. Large age-related decreases in accuracy and processing time are often found in studies using paper-and-pencil or computerized mental rotation tests. For older participants, these tests are often too difficult. In the present study, real models consisting of cube figures were used to assess the mental rotation performance of middle and older aged adults. It should be investigated whether these tests were comparable to paper-and-pencil or chronometric tests and if very old participants were able to solve them. Eighty-four participants (49 females) between 40 and 90 years took part and were divided into middle (40–68 years) and older aged (69–90 years) and groups with higher (with college degree) and lower education (without college degree). For accuracy, main effects of gender and age group as well as interactions of age group and education were found. Younger participants outperformed older ones only in the group with lower education. For processing time, a main effect of age group as well as an interaction of age group and education was found. The age-related cognitive decline in the higher educated group was moderate, while a large effect appeared for the group without college degree. Age and gender effects of our new test with real objects were comparable to paper–pencil and computerized tests. Furthermore, a protective effect of education on the cognitive decline in mental rotation performance is discussed.

2BALANCE: Test-retest reliability of a cognitive-motor dual-task protocol.

Aside from typical symptoms such as dizziness and vertigo, persons with vestibular disorders often have cognitive and motor problems. These symptoms have been assessed in single-task condition. However, dual-tasks assessing cognitive-motor interference might be an added value as they reflect daily life situations better. Therefore, the 2BALANCE protocol was developed. In the current study, the test-retest reliability of this protocol was assessed. The 2BALANCE protocol was performed twice in 20 healthy young adults with an in-between test interval of two weeks. Two motor tasks and five different cognitive tasks were performed in single and dual-task condition. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), the standard error of measurement, and the minimal detectable difference were calculated. All cognitive tasks, with the exception of the mental rotation task, had favorable reliability results (0.26≤ICC≤0.91). The dynamic motor task indicated overall substantial reliability values in all conditions (0.67≤ICC≤0.98). Similar results were found for the static motor task during dual-tasking (0.50≤ICC≤0.92), but were slightly lower in single-task condition (-0.26≤ICC≤0.75). The 2BALANCE protocol was overall consistent across trials. However, the mental rotation task showed lowest reliability values.

Intrauterine Device Use: A New Frontier for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology.

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are the most-used reversible contraceptive method for women in the world, but little is known about their potential modulation of brain function, cognition, and behavior. This is disconcerting because research on other hormonal contraceptives, especially oral contraceptives (OCs), increasingly shows that exogenous sex hormones have behavioral neuroendocrine consequences, especially for gendered cognition, including spatial skills. Effects are small and nuanced, however, partially reflecting heterogeneity. The goal of this paper is to introduce IUD use as a new frontier for basic and applied research, and to offer key considerations for studying it, emphasizing the importance of multimodal investigations and person-specific analyses. The feasibility and utility of studying IUD users is illustrated by: scanning women who completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging mental rotations task; taking an individualized approach to mapping functional connectivity during the task using network analyses containing connections common across participants and unique to individual women, focusing on brain regions in putative mental rotations and default mode networks; and linking metrics of brain connectivity from the individualized networks to both mental rotations task performance and circulating hormone levels. IUD users provide a promising natural experiment for the interplay between exogenous and endogenous sex hormones, and they are likely qualitatively different from OC users with whom they are often grouped in hormonal contraceptive research. This paper underscores how future research on IUD users can advance basic neuroendocrinological knowledge and women’s health.

The Effects of Self-Perceived Parenting Attitudes on Visuo-Spatial Attention and Mental Rotation Abilities among Adolescents.

HighlightsSelf-perceived parenting attitude of adolecents affects their cognitive performancesAdolescents’ self-perceived negative parenting attitudes lead to reduced visuo-spatial attention abilityAdolescents’ self-perceived negative parenting attitudes induce employment of an impatient strategy for mental imagery The present study aimed to investigate the effect of adolescents’ perceived negative evaluation of parenting on their visuo-spatial attention and mental rotation abilities. The useful field of view (UFOV) and mental rotation tasks were used to measure visuo-spatial attention and mental rotation abilities among adolescents. The experimental groups were divided into the negatively evaluating group (MAge = 18.44, SD = 0.87, 20.7% girls) and positively evaluating group (MAge = 18.40, SD = 0.81, 23.3% girls) based on their scores on the self-perceived parenting attitude scales. The UFOV task showed lesser accuracy of the negatively evaluating group when compared to the positively evaluating one in target perception presented in 20° visual angle, indicating a deteriorated visuo-spatial attention ability in the negatively evaluating group. In the mental rotation task, the negatively evaluating group exhibited a small trade-off effect between response times and rotation angles, which implied an impatient strategy was employed to perform the task, whereas such a trade-off was not observed in the positively evaluating group. Thus, both experimental groups differed in terms of their visual attention and mental spatial abilities. This study suggests that the reduced visuo-spatial attention and mental rotation abilities may act as precursors for serious psychological symptoms caused by the negative self-evaluation of their parents’ parenting attitudes.

The neural stability of perception-motor representations affects action outcomes and behavioral adaptation.

Actions can fail - even though this is well known, little is known about what distinguishes neurophysiological processes preceding errors and correct actions. In this study, relying on the Theory of Event Coding, we test the assumption that only specific aspects of information coded in EEG activity are relevant for understanding processes leading to response errors. We examined N=69 healthy participants who performed a mental rotation task and combined temporal EEG signal decomposition with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and source localization analyses. We show that fractions of the EEG signal, primarily representing stimulus-response translation (event file) processes and motor response representations, are essential. Stimulus representations were less critical. The source localization results revealed widespread activity modulations in structures including the frontopolar, the middle and superior frontal, the anterior cingulate cortex, the cuneus, the inferior parietal cortex, and the ventral stream regions. These are associated with differential effects of the neural dynamics preceding correct/erroneous responses. The temporal-generalization MVPA showed that event file representations and representations of the motor response were already distinct 200 ms after stimulus presentation and this lasted till around 700 ms. The stability of this representational content was predictive for the magnitude of posterror slowing, which was particularly strong when there was no clear distinction between the neural activity profile of event file representations associated with a correct or an erroneous response. The study provides a detailed analysis of the dynamics leading to an error/correct response in connection to an overarching framework on action control.

Age-related changes in how 3.5- to 5.5-year-olds observe and imagine rotational object motion

ABSTRACT Mental representations of rotation were investigated in 3.5- to 5.5-year-olds (N = 74) using a multi-method approach. In a novel mental-rotation task, children were asked to choose one of two rotated shapes that would fit onto a counterpart. The developmental trajectory of mental rotation was compared to eye-tracking results on how the same children observed and anticipated circular object motion. On the mental-rotation task, children below age 4 performed above chance up to angles of 150°, and performance improved with age. Eye-tracking results indicated that mental representations of circular motion were largely developed by the age of 3.5 years. In contrast, perception of rotational motion and mental rotation of asymmetrical shapes continued to develop between 3.5 and 5.5 years of age.

Evaluating Contribution of Image Size and Angular Disparity to Accuracy Errors in Mental Rotation Tasks

Evaluating Contribution of Image Size and Angular Disparity to Accuracy Errors in Mental Rotation Tasks

An Adaptive Measure of Visuospatial Impairment in Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

ABSTRACTBackgroundDementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a common cause of dementia with poor prognosis and high hospitalization rates. DLB is frequently misdiagnosed, with clinical features that overlap significantly with other diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD). Clinical instruments that discriminate and track the progression of cognitive impairment in DLB are needed.ObjectivesThe current study was designed to assess the utility of a mental rotation (MR) task for assessing visuospatial impairments in early DLB.MethodsAccuracy of 22 DLB patients, 22 PD patients and 22 age‐matched healthy controls in the MR task were compared at comparing shapes with 0°, 45° and 90° rotations.ResultsHealthy controls and PD patients performed at similar levels while the DLB group were significantly impaired. Further, impairment in the visuospatial and executive function measures correlated with MR poor outcomes.ConclusionThese findings support the MR task as an objective measure of visuospatial impairment with the ability to adjust difficulty to suit impairments in a DLB population. This would be a useful tool within clinical trials.

Mental rotation of hands and objects in ageing and Parkinson’s disease: differentiating motor imagery and visuospatial ability

Motor imagery supports motor learning and performance and has the potential to be a useful strategy for neurorehabilitation. However, motor imagery ability may be impacted by ageing and neurodegeneration, which could limit its therapeutic effectiveness. Motor imagery can be assessed implicitly using a hand laterality task (HLT), whereby laterality judgements are slower for stimuli corresponding to physically more difficult postures, as indicated by a “biomechanical constraint” effect. Performance is also found to differ between back and palm views of the hand, which may differentially recruit visual and sensorimotor processes. Older adults and individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have shown altered performance on the HLT; however, the effects of both ageing and PD on laterality judgements for the different hand views (back and palm) have not been directly examined. The present study compared healthy younger, healthy older, and PD groups on the HLT, an object-based mental rotation task, and an explicit motor imagery measure. The older and PD groups were slower than the younger group on the HLT, particularly when judging laterality from the back view, and exhibited increased biomechanical constraint effects for the palm. While response times were generally similar between older and PD groups, the PD group showed reduced accuracy for the back view. Letter rotation was slower and less accurate only in the PD group, while explicit motor imagery ratings did not differ significantly between groups. These results suggest that motor imagery may be slowed but relatively preserved in both typical ageing and neurodegeneration, while a PD-specific impairment in visuospatial processing may influence task performance. The findings have implications for the use of motor imagery in rehabilitation protocols.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN COGNITIVE STRATEGIES APPLIED IN MENTAL ROTATION TASKS

This article aims to outline the differences between men and women in cognitive strategies applied in mental rotation task. Mental rotation is recognised among the fundamental processes of spatial thinking. Good ability to assess the spatial relations between oneself and the surrounding makes it possible to take decisions quickly and to act effectively. Mental rotation tasks can be performed in various ways, depending on their type, and with a use of different cognitive strategies. The study explores characteristics of mental rotation task performance specific to women and men. The differences observed in this area are determined by multiple factors. It was pointed out that interactions between biological and environmental factors are of major importance for effective performance in mental rotation tasks. The discussion also focuses on task characteristics possibly determining different results achieved by men and women, and potentially affecting the choice of specific strategies applied in mental rotation tasks. Subsequently, the article reviews the evidence suggesting differences in cognitive strategies used during mental rotation tasks by women and men. It is also pointed out that, in the context of the observed sex-related differences, the type of strategies used are associated with methods of assessing visuospatial material and with task characteristics. The final part presents data from neuroimaging studies investigating brain activity recorded during performance of this type of tasks. The evidence was discussed with reference to sex differences in cognitive strategies applied in mental rotation tasks.

Real-Time Neuropsychological Testing of Sensorimotor Cognition During Awake Surgery in Precentral and Postsomatosensory Areas

For patients undergoing brain surgery, once primary motor and sensory areas are identified by direct electrical stimulation, resection can be performed in the precentral and postsomatosensory areas while monitoringcognition. For this purpose, we developed a real-time neuropsychological testing (RTNT) protocol tappingsensorimotor cognition. We retrospectively reviewed a consecutive series of 57 adult patients with tumors in the precentral and postsomatosensory areas who performed the RTNT sequence. The testing protocol used continuously throughout resection for excisions comprised action verbs, mental rotation of body parts, action imagery, action semantics, ideomotor praxis, and short-term memory. The patients' median performance on RTNT tests was significantly lower for mental rotation and action imagery (χ2 (2) = 55.98, P < 0.001), as well as their minimumvalue of patients' performance (χ2 (2) = 85.048, P< 0.001) and their delta calculated between the patients' performance at the first versus the last RTNT run (χ2(2)=14.33, P < 0.05). Patients showing such decreases in performance on action imagery had lesions overlapping on the right precentral and postcentral gyrus, the supplementary motor area, and the superior and inferior parietal lobe. For the mental rotation task, their maximum lesion overlay included the right cingulum/supplementary motor area and left superior and inferior parietal lobe and medial precuneus. The mean resection extent was 91.15% ± 17.45 and correlated with the number of motor-related positive sites found by the direct electrical stimulation at cortical (r= -0.279, P = 0.020) and white matter (r = -0.417, P= 0.001) level. The sensory-motor RTNT is performed to assist surgery in the precentral and postsomatosensory areas.

P 3 Mental rotation performance in patients with focal dystonia is associated with their cognitive state

Introduction: Mental rotation (MR) of body parts is based on the imagination of actual movements. It is assumed to require activation of brain areas responsible for planning and execution of movements. From previous studies with partly contradictory results, it is still unclear whether patients (pts) with idiopathic focal dystonia have an impairment of MR of body parts. We investigated MR of body parts and non-corporal objects in pts with cervical dystonia (CD) and blepharospasm (BS) and assessed potential confounders of MR performance like cognitive deficits. Patients and Methods: 23 pts with CD and 23 healthy subjects as well as 21 pts with BS and 19 pts with hemifacial spasm (HS) were compared. Matched groups did not differ significantly regarding gender distribution, age, or duration of schooling. Besides handedness, dexterity and general reaction time, cognitive status was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Severity of diseases was evaluated by using the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale, Blepharospasm severity scale, Blepharospasm disability index and Jancovic rating scale. In the MR test, photographs of body parts (head, hand, or foot) and other objects such as cars were presented on a screen. Images of the head had a black mark on either the right or left eye, the car had a black mark on either the right or left headlight. The images were presented at six different angles rotated around their own axis. Subjects were asked to select by keystroke whether the right or left hand/foot/headlight was marked. Both speed and correctness of responses were evaluated. For statistical analysis, mixed ANOVA and Spearman-Rho correlation coefficient were applied. Results: In the MR test, pts with CD showed a significantly longer reaction time (RT) compared to healthy controls for both body parts and non-corporal objects (p=0.003, p=0.027). There was no significant difference concerning accuracy except for cars (p=0.048). Furthermore, pts with CD achieved a significantly lower score in the MoCA test compared to controls (p<0.001). Negative correlations were found between MoCA results and RTs in the MR test for all items (hand: r=-0.434, p<0.001, foot: r=-0.419, p<0.001, head: r=-0.363, p=0.001, cars: r=-0.425, p<0.001), whereas there was no correlation between severity of diseases and RTs. No significant differences were observed between pts with B and HS. Conclusion: In our study, prolonged RTs in pts with CD in the MR task are not limited to images of body parts. Rather, we found a significant association of MR performance with cognitive fitness. However, it remains unclear whether increased RTs in pts result from cognitive deficits or from dystonia itself. The former would be supported by the lack of difference in the MR task between BS and HS, whose MoCA results did not differ. Future studies should investigate MR performance in dystonia pts and subjects with comparable cognitive state.

Video Game Play Does Not Improve Spatial Skills When Controlling for Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off: Evidence From Mental-Rotation and Mental-Folding Tasks.

Researchers have been divided on the efficacy of computerized cognitive training (CCT) for enhancing spatial abilities, transfer of training, and improving malleability of skills. In this study, we assessed the effects of puzzle video game training on subsequent mental rotation (MR) and mental folding (MF) performance among adults with no cognitive impairment. We assessed participants at baseline with the Shepard-Metzler MR test followed by the differential aptitude test: space relations MF test (i.e., far transfer). We ranked participants' skills on these pre-tests and used a matching technique to form two skill groups from which we then randomly assigned members of each skill group either to an experimental group or a wait-list control group. The experimental group played two puzzle video games closely related to two-dimensional and three-dimensional MR tasks during 4-week training sessions (total of 12hour of video games). Post-training, participants completed the MR and MF tests again. Two months later, we re-assessed only the experimental group's spatial skills to explore the sustainability of the trained performance. In addition to response times (RT) and error scores (ES), reported separately, we combined these variables into rate correct scores (RCS) to form an integrated measure of potential speed-accuracy trade-offs (SAT). As a result, we did not find significant improvements in MR performance from CCT engagement, nor did participants show a transfer of skills obtained by practicing MR-related puzzle games to a MF task. Based on the current findings, we urge caution when proposing a game-based intervention as a training tool to enhance spatial abilities. We argue that separately interpreting individual test measures can be misleading, as they only partially represent performance. In contrast, composite scores illuminate underlying cognitive strategies and best determine whether an observed improvement is attributable to enhanced capacities or individual heuristics and learned cognitive shortcuts.

Effects of Differing Exercise Intensities on the Response Time of Gymnasts and Nongymnasts in a Mental Body Rotation Task

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of different levels of exercise intensity on mental rotation performance in gymnasts versus nongymnasts. A group of elite gymnasts and a group of nongymnasts performed a mental body rotation task at rest and then performed the same task preceded by short bouts of intense exercise at 60%, 80%, 100%, and 120% of their maximum aerobic speed. The analyses of response times showed that gymnasts performed the mental rotation task faster after bouts of intense exercise than in rest condition, but nongymnasts performed equally in rest and after exercise. This finding highlights the specific physical expertise as a variable that can affect the influence of exercise on cognitive processing.

Multi-Granularity Analysis of Brain Networks Assembled With Intra-Frequency and Cross-Frequency Phase Coupling for Human EEG After Stroke.

Evaluating the impact of stroke on the human brain based on electroencephalogram (EEG) remains a challenging problem. Previous studies are mainly analyzed within frequency bands. This article proposes a multi-granularity analysis framework, which uses multiple brain networks assembled with intra-frequency and cross-frequency phase-phase coupling to evaluate the stroke impact in temporal and spatial granularity. Through our experiments on the EEG data of 11 patients with left ischemic stroke and 11 healthy controls during the mental rotation task, we find that the brain information interaction is highly affected after stroke, especially in delta-related cross-frequency bands, such as delta-alpha, delta-low beta, and delta-high beta. Besides, the average phase synchronization index (PSI) of the right hemisphere between patients with stroke and controls has a significant difference, especially in delta-alpha (p = 0.0186 in the left-hand mental rotation task, p = 0.0166 in the right-hand mental rotation task), which shows that the non-lesion hemisphere of patients with stroke is also affected while it cannot be observed in intra-frequency bands. The graph theory analysis of the entire task stage reveals that the brain network of patients with stroke has a longer feature path length and smaller clustering coefficient. Besides, in the graph theory analysis of three sub-stags, the more stable significant difference between the two groups is emerging in the mental rotation sub-stage (500–800 ms). These findings demonstrate that the coupling between different frequency bands brings a new perspective to understanding the brain's cognitive process after stroke.

The Effects of Hormone Contraceptives and Menstruation on Object Memory and Spatial Ability in Young Women.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between hormone contraceptive use and menstruation on cognitive performance in young women. The object array task assessed object memory and a mental rotations test assessed spatial ability in women taking hormone contraceptives and naturally cycling women. Women taking hormone contraceptives were significantly better than naturally cycling women at identifying novel objects on an object array, but not on performance of a mental rotations task. There were also no significant differences in either task between naturally cycling women who were menstruating and those who were not menstruating during testing. The results of this study suggest that women taking hormone contraceptives outperformed naturally cycling women in recalling the identities of objects. The findings from this study help to further demonstrate the relationship between ovarian hormones and cognitive performance and add to the understanding of how hormone contraceptives affect cognition.

Correlation between kinesthetic motor imagery of an amputated limb and phantom limb pain.

Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a frequent painful sensation in amputees, and motor imagery (MI) is a useful approach for the treatment of this type of pain. However, it is not clear regarding the best MI modality for PLP. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the PLP and MI modality in upper limb amputees. Observational study. Eleven patients who underwent unilateral upper limb amputation participated in this study. The MI modality (kinesthetic and visual) and PLP intensity were evaluated using the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ)-20 and a visual analog scale. MI ability was also assessed during the hand mental rotation task. We examined the correlation between MI modalities, ability, and pain intensity. The total KVIQ kinesthetic score was negatively correlated with pain intensity (r = -0.71, P < 0.01): the more vivid the kinesthetic imagery, the weaker the pain. In particular, the reduction in pain intensity was associated with strong kinesthetic imagery of opposing movements of the deficient thumb (r = -0.81, P < 0.01). The KVIQ visual score and MI ability were not associated with pain intensity. Our data showed that the reduction of PLP could be associated with the kinesthetic modality of MI but not with visual modality or MI ability. In other words, it was suggested that the more vivid the sensation of moving muscles and joints in the defect area, the lower the PLP intensity. To reduce PLP, clinicians may prefer interventions using the kinesthetic modality.

Childhood Experience Reduces Gender Differences in Spatial Abilities: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Spatial experience in childhood is a factor in the development of spatial abilities. In this study, we assessed whether American and Faroese participants' (N = 246, Mage = 19.31 years, 151 females) early spatial experience and adult spatial outcomes differed by gender and culture, and if early experience was related to adult performance and behavior. Participants completed retrospective reports on their childhood spatial experience, both large-scale (permitted childhood range size) and small-scale (Lego play). They also completed assessments of their current large-scale spatial behavior (navigational strategy) and small-scale ability (mental rotation task, MRT). We replicated earlier results showing better MRT performance among males and more reliance by males on orientation navigational strategies, although males and females reported similar ranges as children. However, there were cross-cultural differences, with Faroese having larger childhood ranges, less reliance on route strategies, better MRT scores, and a smaller gender difference in MRT. Larger permitted childhood ranges were associated with reduced use of route strategies for navigation in adulthood, and greater Lego play in childhood predicted better MRT performance as adults. There was also some evidence supporting relationships across spatial scales, with more Lego play predicting an orientation style of navigation and larger childhood ranges predicting better performance on the MRT, although the latter was not independent of country. In sum, we observed an association in both cultures between large-scale childhood experience and large-scale behavior in adulthood, small-scale experience in childhood and adult small-scale performance, and some associations between experience and behavior across spatial scales.

The Immersive Mental Rotations Test: Evaluating Spatial Ability in Virtual Reality

Advancements in extended reality (XR) have inspired new uses and users of advanced visualization interfaces, transforming geospatial data visualization and consumption by enabling interactive 3D geospatial data experiences in 3D. Conventional metrics (e.g., mental rotations test (MRT)) are often used to assess and predict the appropriateness of these visualizations without accounting for the effect the interface has on those metrics. We developed the Immersive MRT (IMRT) to evaluate the impact that virtual reality (VR) based visualizations and 3D virtual environments have on mental rotation performance. Consistent with previous work, the results of our pilot study suggest that mental rotation tasks are performed more accurately and rapidly with stereo 3D stimuli than with 2D images of those stimuli.