Experimental But Not Sex Differences of a Mental Rotation Training Program on Adolescents

Abstract

Given the importance of visuospatial processing in areas related to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, where there is still a considerable gap in the area of sex differences, the interest in the effects of visuospatial skills training continues to grow. Therefore, we have evaluated the visuospatial improvement of adolescents after performing a computerized mental rotation training program, as well as the relationship of this visuospatial ability with other cognitive, emotional factors and those factors based on the experience with videogames. The study, which was performed on students aged 14 and 15 years old, showed a significant improvement in this visuospatial skill for a training group (n = 21) compared to a control group (n = 24). Furthermore, no significant sex differences were obtained for spatial ability or for any of the other tasks evaluated, either before or after training. Regarding the relationship between skills, a significant correlation between experience with video games and spatial ability was found, as well as between mathematical reasoning and intelligence and with spatial ability in the initial phase for the total sample. These findings are discussed from a cognitive point of view and within the current sociocultural context, where the equal use of new technologies could help reduce the visuospatial gap between sexes.

Strengthening spatial reasoning: elucidating the attentional and neural mechanisms associated with mental rotation skill development

“…We demonstrated that behavioral improvements in mental rotation ability are likely due to the combination of improved rotation (VSN, motor cortex) and encoding more detailed representations (LOC, saccade amplitude). The current study replicated several previous studies (Leone, Taine & Droulez, 1993;Meneghetti et al, 2017;Provost, Johnson, Karayanidis, Brown & Heathcote, 2013;Rodán et al, 2016;Wright et al, 2008) which found that training on a mental rotation task improves performance on that same task. The question that is less certain from the previous literature is when training on one task can transfer to other tasks or other stimuli (Uttal et al, 2013).…”

“…The goal of the current study was to examine the possibility of near transfer (transfer to a new category of stimuli in an analogous spatial reasoning task). Other studies have examined how mental rotation skills transfer to other tasks such as spatial paper folding (Wright et al, 2008), perspective tests (Meneghetti et al, 2016, Meneghetti et al, 2017, or measures of working memory capacity (Rodán et al, 2016) with varying results, leaving conclusions uncertain. Therefore, we used an identical same/different task procedure for the trained (cubes task) and untrained stimulus categories (molecules task) to determine the degree of near transfer.…”

“…Although many studies have shown that practicing mental rotation can lead to an improvement in spatial reasoning skills (Cohen & Hegarty, 2007;Hoyek, Collet, Di Rienzo, De Almeida, & Guillot, 2014;Meneghetti, Borella, & Pazzaglia, 2016;Meneghetti, Cardillo, Mammarella, Caviola, & Borella, 2017;Rodán, Contreras, Elosúa, & Gimeno, 2016), these studies do not always use optimal methods for reliably detecting training effects (see Uttal et al, 2013, for review). Optimal methods include active control groups in which the control training task has levels of difficulty similar to those of the experimental task (Simons et al, 2016).…”

“…The majority of previous mental rotation training studies have used threedimensional (3D) cubes similar to those used in the current study (Cohen & Hegarty, 2007;Meneghetti et al, 2017). Some studies have used 3D stimuli that more directly apply to everyday life, such as human anatomy (Hoyek et al, 2014) or a combination of 3D cubes and 2D drawings (Meneghetti et al, 2016;Rodán et al, 2016). However, previous studies do not specify if novel stimuli are used throughout training.…”

From What Age Is Mental Rotation Training Effective? Differences in Preschool Age but Not in Sex

“…It is likely that between 3 and 5 years of age, children still have not been differentially exposed to spatial experiences that could be influencing the observed spatial performance at later stages ( Sander et al, 2010 ). Actually, a recent work on MR training with teenagers found no sex differences before or after training for spatial ability ( Rodán et al, 2016 ).…”