Kinesthetic aspects of mental representations in the identification of left and right hands

Sekiyama, Kaoru

doi:10.3758/bf03204268

Cited by 218 publications

(191 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Deagentivized gestural simulation, however, is still constrained by anatomical restrictions of the gesturing hand. The internalization process then further reduces these constraints stemming from the execution of gestures, though it may not completely remove such constraints (Sekiyama, 1982). Consequently, once the motor strategy goes through both deagentivization and internalization, it becomes much freer from the constraints of the physical world.…”

Section: Deagentivization and Internalization Of The Motor Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous gestures during mental rotation tasks: Insights into the microdevelopment of the motor strategy.

Chu

Kita

2008

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

135

143

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This study investigated the motor strategy involved in mental rotation tasks by examining 2 types of spontaneous gestures (hand-object interaction gestures, representing the agentive hand action on an object, vs. object-movement gestures, representing the movement of an object by itself) and different types of verbal descriptions of rotation. Hand-object interaction gestures were produced earlier than object-movement gestures, the rate of both types of gestures decreased, and gestures became more distant from the stimulus object over trials (Experiments 1 and 3). Furthermore, in the first few trials, object-movement gestures increased, whereas hand-object interaction gestures decreased, and this change of motor strategies was also reflected in the type of verbal description of rotation in the concurrent speech (Experiment 2). This change of motor strategies was hampered when gestures were prohibited (Experiment 4). The authors concluded that the motor strategy becomes less dependent on agentive action on the object, and also becomes internalized over the course of the experiment, and that gesture facilitates the former process. When solving a problem regarding the physical world, adults go through developmental processes similar to internalization and symbolic distancing in young children, albeit within a much shorter time span.Keywords: gesture, mental rotation, cognitive development, problem solvingGestures that spontaneously accompany speech can be a window into a speaker's mind, especially the speaker's analogue imagistic thinking (McNeill, 1992). It has been argued that speech production processes are linked to gesture production processes at the level of conceptual planning (Kita, 2000; but see, e.g., Krauss, Chen, & Gottesman, 2000, for an alternative), as conceptually more complex speaking tasks trigger more gestures (Alibali, Kita, & Young, 2000;Hostetter, Alibali, & Kita, 2007;Melinger & Kita, 2007). Consistent with the view that gestures are involved in conceptualization processes, various studies have shown that gestures can reveal important aspects of problem solving and learning processes. For example, discrepancy between the content of gesture and concurrent speech indicates that children are in a transitional phase in the understanding of Piagetian conservation tasks (Church & Goldin-Meadow, 1986) or arithmetic equations (Perry, Church, & Goldin-Meadow, 1988). Similar discrepancy in adults indicates that they are considering alternative strategies in a Tower of Hanoi problem (Garber & Goldin-Meadow, 2002).Gestures can provide insights into the choice of problem-solving strategies used by adults. Alibali, Bassok, Solomon, Syc, and Goldin-Meadow (1999) found that when people were asked to describe and then solve a mathematical problem, their gestures could predict the strategy they used in the solution. Schwartz and Black (1996) showed that gestures revealed how the type of problem-solving strategies chosen by the problem solver changed over the course of an experiment. These authors presented peo...

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Section: Deagentivization and Internalization Of The Motor Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous gestures during mental rotation tasks: Insights into the microdevelopment of the motor strategy.

Chu

Kita

2008

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

135

143

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“…In the task, participants are asked to identify a picture as being that of a left or a right hand. In general, people find it easier to mentally rotate body parts in ways that actual body parts can be easily rotated than in ways that would be awkward to perform physically (see Cooper and Shepard, 1975;Sekiyama, 1982;Parsons, 1987;Parsons, 1994). It has been shown recently that the same constraints apply to the mental manipulation of images of objects that are commonly manipulated with the hands, such as a screwdriver (C. de'Sperati and P. Viviani, pers.…”

Section: Mental Image Transformation and Motor Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motor processes in mental rotation

1998

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Much indirect evidence supports the hypothesis that transformations of mental images are at least in part guided by motor processes, even in the case of images of abstract objects rather than of body parts. For example, rotation may be guided by processes that also prime one to see results of a specific motor action. We directly test the hypothesis by means of a dual-task paradigm in which subjects perform the Cooper-Shepard mental rotation task while executing an unseen motor rotation in a given direction and at a previously-learned speed. Four results support the inference that mental rotation relies on motor processes. First, motor rotation that is compatible with mental rotation results in faster times and fewer errors in the imagery task than when the two rotations are incompatible. Second, the angle through which subjects rotate their mental images, and the angle through which they rotate a joystick handle are correlated, but only if the directions of the two rotations are compatible. Third, motor rotation modifies the classical inverted V-shaped mental rotation response time function, favoring the direction of the motor rotation; indeed, in some cases motor rotation even shifts the location of the minimum of this curve in the direction of the motor rotation. Fourth, the preceding effect is sensitive not only to the direction of the motor rotation, but also to the motor speed. A change in the speed of motor rotation can correspondingly slow down or speed up the mental rotation.

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“…Mental rotation of human body parts, especially hands, has been found to differ essentially from mental rotation of abstract objects [13,17]. Using a handedness paradigm in which participants had to decide if a displayed hand was a right or left one, Parsons [13,14] showed that RTs were not only influenced by the rotation angle of the hand stimulus but also by the implicit awkwardness of the displayed hand position.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

Bläsing

Brugger

Weigelt

et al. 2013

Neuroscience Letters

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The function of thumb posture in mental rotation has not yet been studied intensely, despite its special role in manual action. To investigate if thumb posture modifies relative visual and proprioceptive contributions, we conducted two experiments comprising hand laterality judgement tasks with identical stimuli (left and right hands in palmar and dorsal views presented at four orientations). In half of the stimuli, all digits were extended, whereas in the other half the thumb was flexed into the palm of the hand. In the second experiment, participants' thumbs were taped in the same flexed posture that was displayed in half of the stimuli one hour previous to and throughout the experiment. Results of both experiments revealed effects of orientation, side and view on reaction time, but an effect of stimulus thumb posture occurred only in the second experiment in which participants' thumbs were fixed. In palmar view, stimuli rotated by 90°with fingers pointing toward the participant's midline had shorter reaction times than stimuli rotated (evidentially less comfortably) in the opposite direction. This finding suggests that participants applied motor imagery strategies for palmar but not for dorsal views of the hand, indicating a difference in visual and sensorimotor familiarity. AbstractThe function of thumb posture in mental rotation has not yet been regarded intensely, despite of the specific role of the thumb in manual action. To investigate whether thumb posture would modify the relative visual and proprioceptive contributions, we conducted two experiments with identical stimuli (left and right hands in palmar and dorsal views presented at four orientations) in which participants were asked to give handedness judgements. In half of the stimuli, the thumb was extended like the other digits, in the other half the thumb was flexed into the palm of the hand. In the second experiment, the participant's thumbs were fixed in the same posture as displayed in half of the stimulus pictures; thumbs were taped to the palm of the hands one hour previous to and throughout the experiment. Results of both experiments revealed effects of orientation, side and view on reaction time, but an effect of stimulus thumb posture occurred only in the second experiment in which the participants' thumbs were fixed. Medial-over-lateral advantage as indicator of motor imagery was found only for palmar stimuli, suggesting that participants applied different strategies for the different views of the hand, probably based on different visual and sensorimotor familiarity. IntroductionMental rotation of human body parts, especially hands, has been found to differ essentially from mental rotation of abstract objects [13,17]. Using a handedness paradigm in which participants had to decide if a displayed hand was a right or left one, Parsons [13,14] showed that RTs were not only influenced by the rotation angle of the hand stimulus but also by the implicit awkwardness of the displayed hand position. He concluded that movements performed...

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Kinesthetic aspects of mental representations in the identification of left and right hands

Cited by 218 publications

References 11 publications

Spontaneous gestures during mental rotation tasks: Insights into the microdevelopment of the motor strategy.

Spontaneous gestures during mental rotation tasks: Insights into the microdevelopment of the motor strategy.

Motor processes in mental rotation

Does thumb posture influence the mental rotation of hands?

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