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Mental rotation of letters, body parts and complex scenes: Separate or common mechanisms?
- Source :
-
Human Movement Science . Oct2012, Vol. 31 Issue 5, p1151-1160. 10p. - Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Abstract: This study compares mental rotation with three stimuli: letters, body parts and complex scenes. Twenty-four subjects saw letters and judged whether they were mirror-reversed or not (task LETTER), saw pictures of a hand and indicated whether it was a right or a left one (task HAND), and saw drawings of a person at a table on which a weapon and a rose laid and decided whether the weapon was to the person’s right or left (task SCENE). Stimuli were presented in canonical orientation or rotated by up to 180°. Our analyses focused on intra-subject correlations between reaction times of the different tasks. We found that reaction times for stimuli in canonical orientation co-varied in HAND and LETTER, the increase of reaction times with increasing object rotation co-varied in HAND and SCENE, and reaction times for 180° rotations co-varied between all tasks. We suggest that basic processes like visual perception and decision-making are distinct for scenes versus letters and body parts, that the mechanism for mental rotation of letters is distinct from that for mental self- and body part rotation, and suggest an extra mechanism for 180° rotations that shared among all tasks. These findings confirm and expand hypotheses about mental rotation that were based on comparisons of between-subject means. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01679457
- Volume :
- 31
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Human Movement Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 83570144
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2011.12.001