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

Abstract

Spatial reasoning is a critical skill in many everyday tasks and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. The current study examined how training on mental rotation (a spatial reasoning task) impacts the completeness of an encoded representation and the ability to rotate the representation. We used a multisession, multimethod design with an active control group to determine how mental rotation ability impacts performance for a trained stimulus category and an untrained stimulus category. Participants in the experimental group (n = 18) showed greater improvement than the active control group (n = 18) on the mental rotation tasks. The number of saccades between objects decreased and saccade amplitude increased after training, suggesting that participants in the experimental group encoded more of the object and possibly had more complete mental representations after training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data revealed distinct neural activation associated with mental rotation, notably in the right motor cortex and right lateral occipital cortex. These brain areas are often associated with rotation and encoding complete representations, respectively. Furthermore, logistic regression revealed that activation in these brain regions during the post-training scan significantly predicted training group assignment. Overall, the current study suggests that effective mental rotation training protocols should aim to improve the encoding and manipulation of mental representations.

Mental imagery can generate and regulate acquired differential fear conditioned reactivity

“…Consistent with previous findings our study revealed that aspects of the superior parietal lobe were more active during both down-and up-regulation compared to their respective viewing conditions. This observation is consistent with the role of superior aspects of the parietal lobe being involved in aspects of visual mental imagery (Dijkstra et al, 2017; Moen et al, 2020) and emotion regulation via reappraisal and distraction (Kanske et al, 2011; McRae et al, 2010).…”

Cognitive Efficiency and Fitness-to-Drive along the Lifespan: The Mediation Effect of Visuospatial Transformations

“…Spatial reasoning is one of the most important human skills, useful for many daily activities [1]. It involves the mental representations of the shape of objects, their locations, as well as cognitive processes of transformation of objects and movement through space [2].…”

“…It involves the mental representations of the shape of objects, their locations, as well as cognitive processes of transformation of objects and movement through space [2]. We think spatially as: (a) behind the wheel, we try to quickly compare the incoming visuospatial information flow with our mental representation of the map we saw earlier, as well as: (b) when preparing a trip, we try to find the best way to arrange luggage in the vehicle's trunk [1,2]. Often, people seem to be able to encode visuospatial information and adopt it into decisions and complex motor actions that allow them to control high-speed locomotion [3].…”

“…Mental rotation is the ability to imagine the movement of objects and spatial forms [14]. The mental rotation task is assumed to be a spatial transformation task in which respondents are required to encode the representation of an object, and then to rotate that mental representation in order to judge its matching with another object presented in a rotated view [1,15,16]. The processes of encoding (i.e., ascribed to the lateral occipital cortex) and rotation (i.e., motor areas and superior parietal lobe) activate distinct brain areas supporting the execution of the task [1].…”

“…The mental rotation task is assumed to be a spatial transformation task in which respondents are required to encode the representation of an object, and then to rotate that mental representation in order to judge its matching with another object presented in a rotated view [1,15,16]. The processes of encoding (i.e., ascribed to the lateral occipital cortex) and rotation (i.e., motor areas and superior parietal lobe) activate distinct brain areas supporting the execution of the task [1]. Regarding the aforementioned processes, the presence of age differences has been documented in the scientific literature: younger people show better performance in mental rotation than older people [17].…”