The role of stimulus salience in young children's ability to discriminate two-dimensional rotations: Reflections on a paradigm

Using geometry to specify location: implications for spatial coding in children and nonhuman animals

“…While it has been shown that mental transformations are generally diYcult for young children, it also has been shown that certain conditions can facilitate the transformation of spatial arrays. For example, children are better at mentally rotating objects with distinctive cues (Rosser, Ensing, & Mazzeo, 1985;Rosser, Ensing, Gilder, & Lane, 1984). And we found a similar beneWt with the unique corner in our space shaped like an isosceles triangle.…”

Mental Rotation in Williams Syndrome: An Impaired Ability

“…Prior research indicated that a salient stimulus component can have an important role in facilitating performance on the mental rotation of unfamiliar objects. This has been shown to be the case throughout typical development (Courbois, 2000;Courbois 2005;Courbois et al, 2007;Lourenco & Huttenlocher, 2006;Rosser et al, 1985) and also in individuals with mild-to-severe ID (Courbois, 2000;Courbois et al, 2007). While it may be the case that individuals with WS share cognitive characteristics with these two groups (with mean IQ scores comparable to the individuals with ID and nonverbal abilities at around the level of a typically developing 5-to 7-yearold), in the present investigation we found that stimulus salience did not generally facilitate the mental rotation abilities of individuals with WS.…”

“…For example, Lourenco and Huttenlocher (2006) demonstrated that toddlers aged 18 to 25 months, could find a hidden object in a rotated space, when it was hidden at the unique corner of the triangular space, but performed at chance when it was hidden at one of the two equivalent corners. Similarly, Rosser, Ensing and Mazzeo (1985) report that 3-4-yearolds find it easier to rotate objects as a function of the number of orientation cues. It appears, then, that salient cues have an effect on mental rotation performance throughout typical development.…”

A New Twist on Studying the Development of Dynamic Spatial Transformations: Mental Paper Folding in Young Children

“…Notably, Marmor (1975Marmor ( , 1977 demonstrated that, even without training, 4-year-olds were able to complete her mental rotation task. Further, Rosser and her colleagues (Rosser, Ensing, Gilder, & Lane, 1984;Rosser, Ensing, & Mazzeo, 1985) suggested that even 3-year-olds might be capable of mental rotation when provided with multiple external cues (such as a bear that is holding up its left or right hand as in Marmor's studies). Concerns have been raised, however, that these results may reflect the existence of a group of precocious rotators, rather than the general presence of the ability at a given age.…”