Strategy selection versus flexibility: Using eye-trackers to investigate strategy use during mental rotation.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Spatial Cognition
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Debate on optimal cognitive strategies for spatial problem-solving persists.
• Strategy flexibility, though recognized, lacks empirical testing methods.
• Eye movement analysis offers novel insights into spatial task strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• Shift focus from strategy dichotomies to strategy flexibility.
• Investigate eye movement patterns during mental rotation tasks.
• Examine the relationship between strategy flexibility and performance.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Tobii ×60 eye-tracker for data collection during a mental rotation task.
• Applied latent profile analysis to eye movement parameters.
• Employed changepoint detection algorithm to assess strategy flexibility.

Main Results:

• Identified two eye-movement patterns: fixating and switching.
• Switching eye-pattern linked to superior mental rotation performance.
• Strategy flexibility significantly predicted performance; males showed higher flexibility.

Conclusions:

• Strategy flexibility is crucial for effective spatial thinking.
• Novel eye-tracking analysis methods advance spatial research.
• Findings inform spatial training technique development and cross-domain applications.