Mental and manual rotation.

The relation between mental and manual rotation was investigated in 2 experiments. Experiment 1 compared the response times (RTs) of mental rotation about 4 axes in space with the RTs shown in the same task when participants were allowed to reorient the stimuli by means of rotational hand movements. For the 3 Cartesian axes, RT functions were quantitatively indistinguishable. Experiment 2 investigated interference between mental rotation and 4 kinds of simultaneously executed hand movements that did not reorient the stimuli. Interference was observed only when axes of manual and mental rotation coincided in space. Regardless of the hand used, concordant rotational directions facilitated, whereas discordant directions inhibited, mental rotation. The results suggest that mental object rotation and rotatory object manipulation share a common process that is thought to control the dynamics of both imagined and actually performed object reorientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiating visual and kinesthetic imagery in mental practice.

Through two experiments, the study sought to emphasize the usefulness of the visual and kinesthetic imagery in mental practice. In Experiment 1, it was hypothesized that when the task to be learned through mental practice necessitates the reproduction of a form by drawing, the visual image, which provides a wide span of apprehension, is more suitable than the kinesthetic image. On the other hand, the kinesthetic image that supplies inputs from the muscles' positions and movements should be more appropriate for the acquisition of the duration of the drawing. In Experiment 2, it was hypothesized that the task, transformed into a motor task necessitating minute coordination of the two hands, would benefit more from kinesthetic imagery. To have optimal control over what was actually experienced during mental practice, the participants' imagery skills were measured. The participants also benefited from prior imagery training. The results demonstrate that when using mental practice to initially acquire a task, visual imagery is better for tasks that emphasize form while kinesthetic imagery is better for those tasks that emphasize timing or minute coordination of the two hands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental rotation, mental representation, and flat slopes

The "mental rotation" literature has studied how subjects determine whether two stimuli that differ in orientation have the same handedness. This literature implies that subjects perform the task by imagining the rotation of one of the stimuli to the orientation of the other. This literature has spawned several theories of mental representation. These theories imply that mental representations cannot be both orientation-free and handedness-specific. We present four experiments that demonstrate the contrary: mental representations can be both orientation-free and handedness-specific. In Experiment 1 we serendipitously discovered a version of R. N. Shepard and J. Metzler's (1971) "mental rotation" task in which subjects accurately discover the handedness of a stimulus without using "mental rotation," i.e., in which reaction time to compare the handedness of two forms is not a function of the angular disparity between the two forms. In Experiment 2 we generalize this finding to different experimental procedures. In Experiment 3 we replicate this finding with a much larger group of subjects. In Experiment 4 we show that when we preclude the formation of an orientation-free representation by never repeating a polygon, subjects carry out the handedness comparison task by performing "mental rotation."     

Mental rotation: Cross-task training and generalization.

It is well established that performance on standard mental rotation tasks improves with training (Peters et al., 1995), but thus far there is little consensus regarding the degree of transfer to other tasks which also involve mental rotation. In Experiment 1, we assessed the effect of mental rotation training on participants' Mental Rotation Test (MRT) scores. Twenty-eight participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a “One-Day Training,” “Spaced Training,” or “No Training” group. Participants who received training achieved higher scores on the MRT, an advantage that was still evident after 1 week. Distribution of training did not affect performance. Experiment 2 assessed generalization of mental rotation training to a more complex mental rotation task, laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgical skills were assessed using Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) tasks. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to a “Full Mental Rotation Training, MRT and FLS,” “MRT and FLS,” or “FLS-only” group. MRT results from Experiment 1 were replicated and mental rotation training was found to elicit higher scores on the MRT. Further, mental rotation training was found to generalize to certain laparoscopic surgical tasks. Participants who obtained mental rotation training performed significantly better on mental-rotation dependent surgical tasks than participants who did not receive training. Therefore, surgical training programs can use simple computer or paper-based mental rotation training instead of more expensive materials to enhance certain aspects of surgical performance of trainees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attenuating verbal overshadowing through color retrieval cues.

Five experiments showed that interference resulting from verbalizing visual stimuli (verbal overshadowing) can be reduced by reintroducing visual cues present at encoding. Object color and background color were used as cues. Participants learned either easy- or hard-to-name figures and then performed an image rotation task. Before performing the imagery task, participants were re-presented with the color patch associated with each figure. Color re-presentation attenuated the impairment associated with easy-to-name stimuli (Experiment 1) as well as labeled hard-to-name stimuli (Experiment 2). However, background color cues had no effect on imagery performance (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that naming the object colors at encoding makes color retrieval cues ineffective. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that object color cues can help participants to overcome previously exhibited impairment resulting from covert verbalization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modality-specific imagery reduces cravings for food: An application of the elaborated intrusion theory of desire to food craving.

Based on converging evidence that visual and olfactory images are key components of food cravings, the authors tested a central prediction of the elaborated intrusion theory of desire, that mutual competition between modality-specific tasks and desire-related imagery can suppress such cravings. In each of Experiments 1 and 2, 90 undergraduate women underwent an imaginal food craving induction protocol and then completed either a visual, auditory, or olfactory imagery task. As predicted, the visual and olfactory imagery tasks were superior to the auditory imagery task in reducing participants' craving for food in general (Experiment 1) and for chocolate in particular (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 replicated these findings in a sample of 96 women using a nonimagery craving induction procedure involving a combination of chocolate deprivation and exposure to chocolate cues. Thus, imagery techniques in the visual or olfactory domain hold promise for treating problematic cravings in disordered eating populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spectra of spontaneous frameshift mutations at the hisD3052 allele of Salmonella typhimurium in four DNA repair backgrounds

In the model of Baddeley (Working Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986), one function of the visuospatial sketchpad (VSSP) component of working memory is to allow the processing of mental images. Properties of the VSSP were investigated by means of the usual dual-task paradigm (to search for interference from the other components of working memory, i.e., the articulatory loop and the central executive), applied to three distinct subprocesses of mental imagery (Kosslyn, 1994 Image and Brain. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA): image generation (Experiment 1), image maintenance (Experiment 2), and image rotation (Experiment 3). First, in the control condition (no interference task) of each experiment, we replicated the effects of stimulus or task complexity already reported. Second, no interference from the articulatory loop was observed. Third, maintenance of images appeared free from any interference. And fourth, generation and rotation tasks were interfered to a greater extent by the central executive than by the involvement of the VSSP in a secondary task. These observations (a) support the dissociation between the articulatory loop and the VSSP, (b) suggest an important use of central attentional resources in the generation and rotation of mental images, (c) would support the distinction between visual and spatial components in the structure of working memory, and (d) suggest the dissociation of the VSSP into two subcomponents: a passive visuospatial store and an active device for recapitulating visuospatial information.     

Global self-esteem and specific self-views as determinants of people's reactions to success and failure.

A critical question in self-esteem research is whether people's reactions to success and failure are guided by their global self-esteem level or by their more specific beliefs about their abilities and attributes. To address this issue, the authors led participants to experience success or failure on an alleged test and then assessed their cognitive and emotional reactions to these outcomes. In Experiment 1, specific self-views predicted participants' cognitive reactions to their performance outcomes, whereas global self-esteem predicted participants' emotional reactions to their performance outcomes. In Experiment 2, global self-esteem predicted participants' emotional reactions to their performance outcomes even after participants' beliefs about their more specific abilities and attributes were taken into account. These findings suggest that when it comes to understanding people's emotional reactions to success and failure, the effects of global self-esteem are not reducible to the way people think about their constituent qualities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between mental rotation and representational momentum.

Two experiments explored a possible relationship between mental rotation and representational momentum, a task in which participants were asked to remember an object's position following a sequence of images implying motion. Typically, participants misremember the position as distorted forward along the implied trajectory. If representational momentum relies on mental imagery, the magnitude of memory distortion in a representational momentum task should be positively correlated with the rate of mental rotation. As predicted, faster mental rotation rates and larger memory distortions for object position were observed for rotational axes aligned with the viewers' coordinate system. In addition, participants with slower mental rotation rates produced smaller memory distortions in the implied-event task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fibronectin matrix regulates activation of RHO and CDC42 GTPases and cell cycle progression

This research concerned the use of mental rotation in recognizing rotated objects. Instead of the classic Shepard's paradigm in which subjects were still while observing rotated objects, here subjects had to move (or imagine moving) around stationary three-dimensional objects put in the middle of the trajectory. Thus, depending on the viewing positions, such objects were seen under six different perspectives (from 30 degrees to 180 degrees). The latter task has been thought to be closer to everyday life in which we obtain information regarding objects from their spatial properties. The results do not follow the classic rules of mental rotation of an object predicting a linear increase of the time needed to recognize distorted objects as a function of their angular displacement. They also differ from data in the literature about spatial imagery showing that access to spatial information is facilitated more when people actually move through a path than when they imagine moving. A probable explanation of this difference from the literature is discussed in relation to the particular involvement of the body in the experimental task.     

Back (or forward?) to the future: The role of perscpective in temporal language comprehension.

Linguists have noted that 2 distinct movement perspectives are implicit in English temporal expressions: a 1st in which events are stationary relative to a moving observer (the moving-ego perspective) and a 2nd in which events move relative to a stationary observer (the moving-time perspective). Two experiments are reported that investigated the role of these perspectives in temporal language comprehension. Experiment 1 used a paradigm in which the comprehension of a target temporal sentence could potentially be facilitated or disrupted by the perspective implied by prior context. In Experiment 2, prior context was manipulated in a similar fashion in an effort to influence participants' interpretations of ostensibly ambiguous temporal statements. The results of both experiments suggest that people do use perspective information when they encounter moving-ego and moving-time temporal sentences in discourse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories relating mental imagery to perception.

Reviews contemporary theories of relations between mental imagery and perception in terms of structural, functional, and interactive theories. Structural theories propose that mental images exhibit the same spatial and pictorial properties as real physical objects. Functional theories propose that the formation and transformation of mental images contribute to object recognition and comparison. Interactive theories propose that imagery contributes directly to ongoing perceptual processes. The evidence for each type of theory is critically evaluated in view of the following alternative accounts: task-induced demand characteristics, experimenter bias, tacit knowledge, and eye movements. Efforts to rule out these alternatives have had varying degrees of success, with the consequence that the 3 types of imagery theories differ in the extent to which they have been confirmed (i.e., none of the 3 types of imagery theories is universally free from challenges from at least some of the alternative accounts). (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Operation compatibility: A neglected contribution to dual-task costs.

Traditionally, dual-task interference has been attributed to the consequences of task load exceeding capacity limitations. However, the current study demonstrates that in addition to task load, the mutual compatibility of the concurrent processes modulates whether 2 tasks can be performed in parallel. In 2 psychological refractory period experiments, task load and process compatibility were independently varied. In Experiment 1, participants performed 2 mental rotation tasks. Task load (rotation angle) and between-task compatibility in rotation direction were varied. Results suggest more considerable parallel execution of compatible than of incompatible operations, arguing for the need to attribute dual-task interference not only to structural but also to functional capacity limitations. Experiment 2 tested whether functional capacity limitations to dual-task performance can be caused only by demanding processes or whether they are also induced by relatively automatic processes. Results indicate that an irrelevant circular movement of Stimulus 2 interfered more with mental rotation of Stimulus 1 if the rotation directions were opposite than if they were equal. In conclusion, compatibility of concurrent processes constitutes an indispensable element in explaining dual-task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysical evidence for a shared representational medium for mental images and percepts.

The intuition that imagery is similar to perception has led many psychologists to assume that imaging an object consists of activating some of the same representational structures that are activated during the perception of that object. This assumption was tested in 2 experiments with 23 undergraduates by measuring the effects of visual imagery on concurrent visual perception. The experimental task consisted of a 2-interval forced-choice detection task (no stimulus identification required) during which the S imaged a particular stimulus. In Exp I, a matching image led to better detection than a nonmatching image. Interactions between imagery and perception implied a common locus of activity, and the content-specific interactions obtained implied that the common locus consisted of representational structures. In Exp II, a matching image facilitated perception only when the image and the stimulus were in the same position, suggesting that the shared representational structures occurred at an analog level of perceptual representation. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competing visual and olfactory imagery tasks suppress craving for coffee.

Using the elaborated intrusion theory of desire as a theoretical basis, the present experiments investigated whether mutual competition between modality-specific tasks and desire-related imagery can suppress cravings for caffeine--in particular, coffee. Data from a pilot survey (Experiment 1) in 106 female undergraduate habitual coffee drinkers showed that coffee cravings are characterized predominantly by sensory images in the visual, olfactory, and gustatory modalities. Experiments 2 and 3 tested the prediction that a competing visual or olfactory imagery task would reduce such cravings, relative to an auditory imagery task. In each experiment, 90 female undergraduate habitual coffee drinkers were asked to forego their morning cup of coffee and were subsequently exposed to pictures of coffee (Experiment 2) or actual coffee (Experiment 3). After the craving induction protocol, participants completed either a visual, auditory, or olfactory imagery task with neutral (i.e., non-coffee-related) content. As predicted, the visual and olfactory imagery tasks reduced participants' cravings for coffee, whereas the auditory task did not. Imagery techniques in the visual or olfactory domain could provide a useful adjunct to the behavioral regime of caffeine fading for consumers who are trying to quit caffeine use or reduce their intake. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of gestures' beneficial role in spatial problem solving.

Co-thought gestures are hand movements produced in silent, noncommunicative, problem-solving situations. In the study, we investigated whether and how such gestures enhance performance in spatial visualization tasks such as a mental rotation task and a paper folding task. We found that participants gestured more often when they had difficulties solving mental rotation problems (Experiment 1). The gesture-encouraged group solved more mental rotation problems correctly than did the gesture-allowed and gesture-prohibited groups (Experiment 2). Gestures produced by the gesture-encouraged group enhanced performance in the very trials in which they were produced (Experiments 2 & 3). Furthermore, gesture frequency decreased as the participants in the gesture-encouraged group solved more problems (Experiments 2 & 3). In addition, the advantage of the gesture-encouraged group persisted into subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesturing was prohibited: another mental rotation block (Experiment 2) and a newly introduced paper folding task (Experiment 3). The results indicate that when people have difficulty in solving spatial visualization problems, they spontaneously produce gestures to help them, and gestures can indeed improve performance. As they solve more problems, the spatial computation supported by gestures becomes internalized, and the gesture frequency decreases. The benefit of gestures persists even in subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesture is prohibited. Moreover, the beneficial effect of gesturing can be generalized to a different spatial visualization task when two tasks require similar spatial transformation processes. We concluded that gestures enhance performance on spatial visualization tasks by improving the internal computation of spatial transformations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)