Imagery and Motor Processes — When Are They Connected? The Mental Rotation of Body Parts in Development

Krüger, Markus; Krist, Horst

doi:10.1080/15248370903389341

Cited by 49 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Indeed, previous research supports the notion that mental transformations in young children may be affected by motor activity (Black and Schwartz 1996;Frick et al 2009a, b), motor constraints (Funk et al 2005;Krüger and Krist 2009), and even gesturing (Ehrlich et al 2006). Moreover, in a recent study, Möhring and Frick (in press) found that 6-month-old infants who were given the opportunity to gather hands-on experience with a test object were more apt to detect violations to rotational events in a subsequent mental rotation task than infants who only had observational experience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Linn and Petersen's meta-analysis did not include children younger than 10 years of age, and three of the four studies listed by Voyer et al with children below the age of 10 found no significant effects of sex on mental rotation (Caldwell and Hall 1970;Jahoda 1979;Kaess 1971). Among more recent studies with young children aged 4 years and older that were not covered by these meta-analyses, some found no sex differences (Estes 1998;Frick et al 2009a;Kosslyn et al 1990;Platt and Cohen 1981), whereas others found higher error rates in boys (Krüger and Krist 2009), or sex differences in older but not in younger children (i.e., younger than 4.5 years of age, Levine et al 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

2013

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Mental rotation is an important spatial skill. However, there is controversy concerning its early development and susceptibility to intervention. In the present study, we assessed individual differences in the mental rotation abilities of children between 3 and 5 years of age, using a touch screen paradigm to simplify task demands. A figure or its mirror image was presented in 8 different orientations, and children indicated in which of two holes the figure would fit by touching one of the holes on the screen. Task instructions were varied in three conditions, giving the children the opportunity to gather manual or observational experience with rotations of different stimuli, or giving no additional experience. Children's error rates and response times increased linearly with increasing angular disparity between the figure and the hole by the age of 5 years, but 4-year-olds were found to respond at chance for all angular disparities, despite the use of a touch screen paradigm. Both manual and observational experience increased the response accuracy of 5-year-olds, especially for children already performing well. However, there was no effect on 4-year-olds. Results point to an emerging readiness to use mental rotation and profit from observational and manual experience at age 5.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

2013

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“…A follow-up study employing the same procedure with different stimuli failed to replicate Marmor's results [8]. Other studies showed that at 4 to 5 years, many children performed at chance, and only few showed signs of MR [9][10][11]. Even efforts to simplify the tasks by using a touch screen or presenting simple and engaging stimuli have failed to demonstrate MR in 3-year-olds, let alone younger children [12,13].…”

Section: Studies With Preschoolers and Young Childrenmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…However, a majority of studies with infants did not show sex differences [14,15,[20][21][22][23][24]. Moreover, several studies with preschool through primary school children did not report any systematic advantages (e.g., [5,6,9,13,[25][26][27]75,76]), or even found higher error rates in boys [11].Interestingly, a meta-analysis found an increase in effect size as a function of chronological age [70], and more recent research suggests that gender differences emerge around 9 years of age [77,78]. These findings raise the question of what factors may promote sex differences around that age.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of mental transformation abilities

Frick

Möhring

Newcombe

2014

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

129

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Mental representation and transformation of spatial information is often examined with mental rotation tasks, which require deciding whether a rotated image is the same or the mirror version of an upright image. Recent research with infants shows early discrimination of objects from mirror image versions. However, even at age 4, many children perform near chance level on more standard measures. Similar age discrepancies can be observed in other domains, including perspective taking, theory of mind, and intuitive physics. These paradoxical results raise the questions of how performance relates to competence, and how to conceptualize developmental change.There may be a common underlying mechanism: the development of the ability to imagine things and mentally transform them in a prospective fashion. Keywords: cognitive development, mental rotation, theory of mind, intuitive physics, perspective taking, simulationRunning head: DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL TRANSFORMATION ABILITIES 3 One of the most impressive skills of the human species is an ability to represent and mentally transform the shapes of objects. People can generate mental images of twodimensional shapes or three-dimensional objects, and can transform them in various ways, e.g., rotating, bending, or folding them [1]. Such flexible representations are vital for making predictions regarding the positions of moving objects, for example to avoid collisions when crossing a street. They also allow for anticipating the effects of actions when manipulating objects or using tools. Furthermore, the ability to perform mental spatial transformations predicts number and math skills [2,3]. Thus, determining the origins and development of mental transformations is a central and topical problem in cognitive science, with translational implications for intervention. However, research on this issue has led to paradoxical findings, with infants showing remarkable abilities but young children failing on seemingly similar tasks. In the present article we put these contrasting results in context with similar findings in other domains, and suggest an underlying mechanism. Age Discrepancies in Mental TransformationMuch of the previous research on mental transformation has focused on a specific kind of spatial transformation, termed mental rotation (MR), which refers to imagining a rotational movement of an object (or array of objects) in 2-or 3-dimensional space. In a classic MR task [4], participants must decide whether a rotated image is the same as a comparison image, or its mirror image. In developmental research, this paradigm has been adapted for the use with children and even infants, with oddly contrasting results. Studies with Preschoolers and Young ChildrenRunning head: DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL TRANSFORMATION ABILITIES 4 Although Marmor [5,6] found that 4-to 5-year-olds were able to perform MR, there has been controversy about her conclusions [7]. A follow-up study employing the same procedure with different stimuli failed to replicate Marmor's results [8]. Other studie...

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“…Further studies have shown that motor activities or motor constraints influenced children's and adults' mental object rotation (Frick, Daum, Walser, & Mast, 2009;Funk, Brugger, & Wilkening, 2005;Krüger & Krist, 2009). Importantly, these studies point to a stronger influence of action experience in children than in adults, suggesting that the influence of action on cognition may change over the course of development.…”

Section: Mental Object Rotation!and Motor Development In 8-and 10-monmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental object rotation and motor development in 8- and 10-month-old infants

Frick

Möhring

2013

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

101

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Recent evidence indicates that 6-month-old infants' mental rotation of objects profits from prior manual experience, whereas observational experience does not have the same beneficial effect (Möhring, W. & Frick, A., 2013, Child Development). The present study investigated whether older infants, at 8 and 10 months of age, succeed in this task after observational experience only, and whether performance is related to infants' motor development. Using the violation-of-expectation paradigm, infants (N = 40) were presented with an asymmetrical object that was moved straight down behind an occluder. After the occluder was lowered, infants saw either the original object (possible event) or a mirror image of the original object (impossible event) in one of five different orientations (0° to 180°, in steps of 45°). Results indicated that it was not until 10 months of age that infants looked longer at the impossible outcome. Analyses including parent questionnaire data showed that mental rotation performance was related to infants' motor development emphasizing the importance of action experience for early cognitive development.

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Imagery and Motor Processes — When Are They Connected? The Mental Rotation of Body Parts in Development

Cited by 49 publications

References 36 publications

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

Development of mental transformation abilities

Mental object rotation and motor development in 8- and 10-month-old infants

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