The aim of the present study was to find out whether the ability to mentally rotate pictures of animals is associated with motor ability in seven to ten year old children and adults. Results revealed significant correlations between reaction times and percentage correct responses in the mental rotation task and motor orientation errors in the children group only. In contrast, no significant correlations with motor distance errors were found. Given previous literature suggesting that movement orientation is pre-planned to a larger degree than movement distance, the results of the present study suggest that mental rotation is linked to motor control at the level of orientation programming. Moreover, the type of spatial transformation applied in both tasks may play a role, assuming that orientation programming involves the rotation of a vertical movement vector to the orientation of the target with respect to the start position.Finally, the basic ability influencing both mental rotation and orientation programming may be the accurate prediction of consequences of actions.

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