Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Mental rotation, physical rotation, and surface media.

P Jolicoeur1, P Cavanagh

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|May 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary

Mental rotation of alphanumeric characters is facilitated by congruent rotation direction and occurs beyond basic sensory processing. This research clarifies the cognitive mechanisms underlying mental rotation tasks.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

First- and second-order transformational apparent motion rely on common shape representations.

Vision research·2021
Same author

Impact of video games on plasticity of the hippocampus.

Molecular psychiatry·2017
Same author

Visual search for feature and conjunction targets with an attention deficit.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2013
Same author

Notch-1 signaling promotes the cyclinD1-dependent generation of mammary tumor-initiating cells that can revert to bi-potential progenitors from which they arise.

Oncogene·2012
Same author

Sparing from the attentional blink is not spared from structural limitations.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2012
Same author

Holographic and trace strength models of rehearsal effects in the item recognition task.

Memory & cognition·2011

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Mental rotation is a fundamental cognitive process involving the imagined rotation of objects in 3D space.
  • Previous research suggests that visual cues can influence mental rotation performance.
  • The specific neural mechanisms and representational levels involved in mental rotation remain under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of stimulus rotation direction on mental rotation of alphanumeric characters.
  • To determine if mental rotation occurs at a level independent of specific visual feature processing.
  • To exclude the involvement of low-level motion analysis in mental rotation.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed mirror-normal discriminations on alphanumeric characters presented in various orientations.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Stimuli involved rotation of either the characters or the background during presentation (Experiments 1-3).
  • Experiment 4 utilized different surface media (luminance, color, texture, motion, disparity) to define stimuli.

    • Main Results:

    • Character rotation aligning with mental rotation direction facilitated performance.
    • Opposing rotation directions inhibited mental rotation.
    • Mental rotation performance was consistent across diverse stimulus-defining media, indicating a high-level process.

    Conclusions:

    • Mental rotation is not dependent on low-level motion analysis centers.
    • The cognitive process of mental rotation operates at a representational level beyond initial sensory analyses.
    • Visual cues, such as rotation direction, can modulate the efficiency of mental rotation.