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Abstract. Visualization and spatial relations (mental rotation) are two important factors of spatial thinking. Visualization refers to complex visual-spatial transformations, whereas spatial relations refer to simple mental rotation of visualized objects. Conventional spatial relations tests, however, have been found to be highly correlated with visualization tests because solving items through mental rotation might involve visualization ability due to the complexity of the visual materials of these tests. In two studies ( N = 51, N = 109), a new computer-based test for spatial relations, the R-Cube-SR Test, was developed and validated. The R-Cube-SR Test utilizes simple, single-colored cubes as rotated visual materials. Reliability estimates of the reaction times reach ω = .87. Correlations with standard tests of spatial relations (up to r = .55) were significantly higher than with visualization tests, such as the new R-Cube-Vis Test ( Fehringer, 2020 ), which uses the same visual materials. This was supported by CFAs. It is concluded that the new R-Cube-SR Test is a valid measure of spatial relations. Both tests together, the R-Cube-Vis and R-Cube-SR, as specific tests for their respective factor, now, are able to provide a differential diagnosis of a participant’s spatial thinking ability using the same visual materials.

Background: Spatial problem-solving is an essential skill for success in many engineering disciplines; thus, understanding the cognitive processes involved could help inform the design of training interventions for students trying to improve this skill. Prior research has yet to investigate the differences in cognitive processes between spatial tasks in problem-solving to offer learners timely feedback. Purpose/Hypothesis: In this study, we investigated how different spatial tasks change the cognitive processes and problem-solving strategies used by engineering students with low spatial ability. Design/Method: Study participants completed mental rotation and mental cutting tasks of high and low difficulty. Eye-tracking data were collected and categorized as encoding, transformation, and confirmation cognitive processes. The adoption of either a holistic or piecemeal strategy and response accuracy were also measured. Results: Mental rotation was found to have a higher number of fixations for each cognitive process than the mental cutting task. The holistic strategy was used in both difficulty levels of the mental cutting task, while the piecemeal strategy was adopted for the mental rotation task at a high difficulty level. Only encoding fixations were significantly correlated with accuracy and most strongly correlated with strategy. Conclusion: Encoding is an important cognitive process that could affect subsequent cognitive processes and strategies and could, thus, play an important role in performance. Future development in spatial training should consider how to enhance encoding to aid students with low spatial ability. Educators can utilize gaze metrics and empirical research to provide tailored and timely feedback to learners. Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program of the National Science Foundation; [1839946] Published version ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank the reviewers for their insightful feedback on our manuscript. This research is in part supported by the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program of the National Science Foundation (Award Number 1839946).

The expanding use of technology to support or replace dissection has implications for educators, who must first understand how students mentally manipulate anatomical images. The psychological literature on spatial ability and general intelligence is relevant to these considerations. This article situates current understandings of spatial ability in the context of veterinary anatomy education. As in medical education, veterinary courses are increasingly using physical and computer-based models and computer programs to supplement or even replace cadavers. In this article, we highlight the importance of spatial ability in the learning of anatomy and make methodological recommendations for future studies to ensure a robust evidence base is developed. Recommendations include ensuring that (a) studies aiming to demonstrate changes in spatial ability include anatomically naïve students and also account for previous anatomical knowledge, (b) studies employ a control group in order to account for the practice effect, and (c) the relationship between spatial ability and general intelligence, and thus other cognitive abilities, is acknowledged.

Females tend to be more anxious than males while engaging in mathematics, which has been linked to lower math performance and higher math avoidance. A possible repercussion of this gender difference is the underrepresentation of females in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math), as math competencies are an essential part of succeeding in such fields. A related, but distinct, area of research suggests that males tend to outperform females in tasks that require spatial processing (i.e., the ability to mentally visualize, rotate, and transform spatial and visual information). Interestingly, factors from the spatial processing domain (spatial ability and spatial anxiety) are important in explaining gender differences in math anxiety. Here, we examined three types of spatial anxiety and ability (imagery, navigation, and manipulation), as well as math ability, as mediators of gender differences in math anxiety. Undergraduate students (125 male; 286 female) completed assessments of their general level of anxiety, their math anxiety, and their spatial anxiety. They also completed a series of tasks measuring their mathematical skill, their spatial skills, and basic demographics. Results suggest that manipulation anxiety and ability, navigation anxiety, and math ability explained the gender difference in math anxiety, but manipulation anxiety was the strongest mediator of this relation. Conversely, all other measures did not explain the gender difference in math anxiety. These findings help us better understand the gender difference in mathematics, and this is important in reducing the gender gap in STEM fields. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Web of Science (WoS) veri tabanına dayalı olarak uzamsal düşünme, uzamsal görselleştirme ve uzamsal yetenek konularında yayımlanmış makalelerin bibliyometrik analizini yapmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, 1980 yılından günümüze 3114 makale yayınlanma yıllarına, ülkelere, WoS kategorilerine, yazarlara, kurumlara, dergilere, en çok atıf alanlara, ortak yazarlara, ortak anahtar kelimelere, kaynakça eşleşmelerine ve ortak atıflara göre incelenmiştir. Çalışmada, performans ve bilimsel alan haritalama analizleri kullanılmıştır. Verilerin elde edilmesinde Web of Science™ Core Collection veri tabanı, ağ analizlerinde ise VOSviewer programı kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın performans analizine göre, belirlenen konulardaki makalelerin yıllara göre artış eğiliminde olduğu, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, İngiltere ve Kanada’da daha fazla çalışma yapıldığı belirlenmiştir. WoS kategorileri içerisinden Psychology Experimental, Psychology Multidisciplinary ile Education Educational Research kategorileri ön plana çıkmaktadır. Hegarty, M., Jansen, P. ile Newcombe, N. S. yazarları belirlenen konularda daha fazla çalışma yapmıştır. Kurumlar bazında, University of California System ile Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education Pcshe dergiler bazında Perceptual and Motor Skills ve Intelligence ön plana çıkmaktadır. Yazarlar bağlamında bağlantı gücü en fazla olan kişiler Hegarty, M. ve Newcombe, N. S. iken ülkeler bağlamında bağlantı gücü en fazla olan devletler Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve İngiltere olmuştur. En fazla ortak anahtar kelime uzamsal yetenek olurken University of California Santa Barbara kaynakça eşleşmesinde en fazla bağlantı gücüne sahip kurum olmuştur. This study aims to conduct bibliometric analyses of published articles on spatial thinking, spatial visualization, and spatial ability based on the Web of Science (WoS) database. In this direction, 3114 articles from 1980 to the present were examined according to publication years, countries, WoS categories, authors, institutions, journals, most cited, co-authors, co-keywords, bibliographic coupling, and co-citations. In the study, performance and scientific field mapping analyzes were used. Web of Science™ Core Collection database was used to obtain data, and the VOSviewer program was used for network analysis. According to the performance analysis of the study, it was determined that the articles on the identified issues tended to increase over the years, and more studies were conducted in USA, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Among the WoS categories, Psychology Experimental, Psychology Multidisciplinary and Education Educational Research categories come to the fore. The authors of Hegarty, M., Jansen, P., and Newcombe, N. S. have done further work on the identified issues. In the context of institutions, the University of California System, and Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education Perthe, in the context of journals, Perceptual and Motor Skills and Intelligence come to the fore. Hegarty, M. and Newcombe, N. S. had the highest linking power in the context of the authors, while the states with the most increased connectivity in the context of countries were the USA and the United Kingdom. The most co-keywords were spatial ability, while the University of California Santa Barbara had the most linking strength in bibliographic coupling.

Examining whether there are differences in the impact of either a digital or physical LEGO training intervention on spatial and maths abilities in children from different socioeconomic status groups.

Spatial thinking is fundamental to the practice and theory of geography, however there are few valid and reliable assessment methods in geography to measure student performance in spatial thinking. This article presents the development and evaluation of a geospatial thinking assessment instrument to measure participant understanding of spatial relations within a geographic context. The instrument is a test consisting of thirty question items, with the purpose to help identify the knowledge sets, thinking skills, and characteristics typical at different levels of competency. The performance score is used to classify participants along an expertise continuum, novice to expert. Generally, students performing at the expert level consist of graduate students while novices are at the grade nine level, although several anomalies are discussed. The broad instructional application of this assessment is to benchmark student performance and the level of understanding of geospatial concepts.

Given the evidence of motor and exploring activities being related to spatial abilities on different scales, the present study considers the case of speleology, a peculiar underground exploratory activity. The relation of this practice with spatial abilities was examined. The study compares a group of expert speleologists (18), a group with a reduced amount of experience in speleology (19 novice speleologists), and a group with a similar amount of practice but in the outdoors (19 experts mountaineers). Group differences will be investigated in terms of (i) small-scale spatial task performance (rotation-based and spatial working memory); (ii) large-scale environment learning (reproduced using verbal descriptions) asking participants to learn a path through a cave or up a mountain (in a counterbalanced order) and then to test their recall with true/false spatial questions and graphical representation tasks; and (iii) self-reports of wayfinding attitudes. The results of linear models showed that, after controlling for age, gender, years of education, and vocabulary scores, expert speleologists had greater mental rotation and perspective-taking abilities and less spatial anxiety than expert mountaineers, and the former performed the true/false questions better than the latter. It should be noted that participants who reported having guiding/path-finding experiences had greater accuracy in graphical representation performance and higher scores in attitude towards orientation. Overall, expertise in speleology is related to spatial abilities on different scales and might have a distinctive role in comparison with other motor practices, pointing to the potential value of examining speleology in the spatial cognition framework.

The use of mixed reality in science education has been increasing and as such it has become more important to understand how information is learned in these virtual environments. Spatial ability is important in many learning contexts, but especially in neuroanatomy education where learning the locations and spatial relationships between brain regions is paramount. It is currently unclear what role spatial ability plays in mixed reality learning environments, and whether it is different compared to traditional physical environments. To test this, a learning experiment was conducted where students learned neuroanatomy using both mixed reality and a physical plastic model of a brain (N = 27). Spatial ability was assessed and analyzed to determine its effect on performance across the two learning modalities. The results showed that spatial ability facilitated learning in mixed reality (β = 0.21, P = 0.003), but not when using a plastic model (β = 0.08, P = 0.318). A non-significant difference was observed between the modalities in terms of knowledge test performance (d = 0.39, P = 0.052); however, mixed reality was more engaging (d = 0.59, P = 0.005) and learners were more confident in the information they learned compared to using a physical model (d = 0.56, P = 0.007). Overall, these findings suggest that spatial ability is more relevant in virtual learning environments, where the ability to manipulate and interact with an object is diminished or abstracted through a virtual user interface.

This study aims to: 1) develop an interactive digital book learning media based on a realistic mathematics learning approach on the valid, practical, and effective flat-sided geometry material (cubes and blocks) so as to improve students' mathematical spatial abilities; 2) improve students' mathematical spatial abilities by using interactive digital books based on a realistic mathematics learning approach on the flat side (cube and block) material. This research is a development research using the ADDIE model. The validity of the interactive digital book learning media assessed by the validators in terms of three aspects, namely the quality of content and objectives, learning/instructional strategies, and media design obtained a total average of 3.73 ("valid" category). The practicality of learning media is seen from the observation score of learning implementation in the first trial, which is 2.87 (category "poorly implemented") so that the second trial is carried out and a score of 3.73 is obtained (category "well implemented"). The effectiveness of learning media in terms of four aspects, namely classical completeness, student activity observation scores, observations of teachers' ability to manage learning, and student responses. The classical mastery of the students' mathematical spatial ability in the second trial was 86.67% (13 students). The average percentage of achievement of the ideal time of student activity in the second trial for three meetings was 22.2%, 26.87%, 26.87%, 13.9%, 7.87%, and 2.32%. The average score for observing the teacher's ability to manage learning in the second trial was 3.79 ("good" category). The average student response in the second trial was 3.74 ("interested" category). Based on the normalized gain index, it was found that in the second trial there was an increase in the value with a score of 0.40 ("medium" criteria). Keywords: Interactive Digital Books, Realistic Mathematics Learning Approach, Spatial Ability, Development of Mathematics Learning Media, Cubes and Blocks.

The aims of this study is to produce android-based learning media on building materials to explore spatial abilities and to determine the quality of the effectiveness of students' spatial abilities after using these learning media. The research subjects were material experts, media experts, mathematics teachers and 25 students of MTs Al-Ishlah Cihaurbeuti class VIII. The research method used is R&D with Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE) model. Data collection techniques used in this study were observation, unstructured interviews, tests and questionnaires. Meanwhile, the instruments used are spatial ability test questions, material expert validation sheets and media experts, student and teacher response questionnaires. This study resulted in an android-based learning media that was packaged in the form of an application (.apk) on solid figure material to explore spatial abilities and was in the valid category very suitable for use for junior high school students. The resulting product is effective for exploring spatial abilities as seen from the calculation of Effect Size with a value of 1.32 in the "strong effect" category. This means that the learning media can be used as a learning resource to support mathematics learning in solid figure materials., Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menghasilkan media pembelajaran berbasis android pada materi bangun ruang untuk mengeksplor kemampuan spasial dan untuk mengetahui kualitas efektivitas kemampuan spasial siswa setelah menggunakan media pembelajaran tersebut. Subjek penelitian dalam penelitian ini yaitu ahli materi, ahli media, guru matematika dan 25 orang siswa MTs Al-Ishlah Cihaurbeuti kelas VIII. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu R&D dengan model pengembangan Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE). Teknik pengumpulan data yang dilakukan dalam penelitian ini adalah observasi, wawancara tak terstruktur, tes dan angket. Sedangkan untuk instrumen yang digunakan yaitu soal tes kemampuan spasial, lembar validasi ahli materi dan ahli media, angket respon siswa dan guru. Penelitian ini menghasilkan suatu media pembelejaran berbasis android yang dikemas dalam bentuk aplikasi (.apk) pada materi bangun ruang untuk mengeksplor kemampuan spasial dan berada pada kategori valid sangat layak digunakan untuk siswa SMP. Produk yang dihasilkan efektif untuk mengeksplor kemampuan spasial terlihat dari hasil perhitungan Effect Size dengan nilai sebesar 1.32 dengan kategori “strong effect”. Hal ini berarti media pembelajaran dapat digunakan sebagai sumber belajar pendukung pembelajaran matematika materi bangun ruang.

Empirical evidence in literature identified significant association between spatial ability and educational performance particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service teachers’ spatial skills in solving mathematics problems, in the context of coordinate geometry. It is envisaged that spatial skills allow for the perception of visual information and, therefore, spatial cognition has been considered as a key skill in teaching mathematics. However, literature asserts that teachers are ill prepared to teach mathematics, hence there is limited use and misuse of spatial skills in teaching the subject. This study, therefore, examines the spatial orientation of pre-service teachers in teaching coordinate geometry. This is a mixed methods study in which pre-service teachers answered a coordinate geometry test to explore their content knowledge and their ability to interpret, analyse and apply visual spatial models to solve mathematical problems in coordinate geometry. The study established that the spatial orientation skills of pre-service teachers determine their performance in mathematics, especially coordinate geometry.

This research is describing the spatial mathematical abilities needed by junior high school students specifically on polyhedron material. This type of research is a qualitative descriptive study. The subjects of this study were 3 students of class IX grade students of State Junior High School 4 Purworejo in the 2019/2020 academic year who had already gotten material on three-dimentional figure and had high mathematical abilities, moderate mathematical abilities, and low mathematical abilities and were in accordance with the needs of the relevant teachers . The subject taking technique used in this study was purposive. The instrument used in this study was the spatial ability test sheet. Data collection uses spatial ability tests, field notes, and interviews. The data analysis technique used is the analysis technique of Miles & Hubermen which includes three activities namely data reduction, data presentation, and the contribution of conclusions. Based on the results of the analysis found students with high mathematical abilities are able to bring up spatial perception, mental rotation, spatial relations, and spatial orientation, but have not been able to bring up spatial visualization. Students with moderate and low mathematical abilities are able to bring up spatial perception, mental rotation and spatial orientation but have not yet spawned spatial relations and spatial visualization.

Spatial ability is crucial to solving mathematical problems. GeoGebra is one of the mathematics software systems widely used as an effective teaching media that is also reported to be effective to improve students’ spatial ability. This study aims to develop GeoGebra-based tutorial materials to increase students' mathematical spatial abilities at Vocational High Schools. This study involved 21 vocational high school students of the Accounting and Finance department. This study used the ADDIE Model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate). Research data were collected with a Pretest, a Posttest, students’ response questionnaires, and expert assessments. The findings proved an increase in students' mathematical spatial abilities after the use of GeoGebra-based tutorial material indicated by the validity assessed by two media experts and two material experts with a percentage of 90.13%, the practicality of the students’ limited test reaching a percentage of 83.24%, the effectiveness of the students’ learning completeness reaching a percentage of 82.22% and the practicality testing in the field trials reaching a percentage of 80.49%. The effectiveness of students’ learning completeness also achieved a percentage of 79.46%. The results of the gain normality test revealed that 19 students obtained high improvement and 2 students obtained low improvement. The total gain normality reached 0.9 indicating that the improvement was significant.

Considering the individual differences in previous content knowledge, skill, and attitude, which types of learners are suitable for AR is a valuable but complex question. The study used quasi-experimental design, and divided 97 10th-grade students into two groups: traditional group (N = 48) and AR group (N = 49), who participated in 4-week organic microstructure teaching. Pre-test, post-test, delayed test, and remedy test were used to collect data of students’ individual differences (foundation of learning in chemistry, spatial ability, and attitude towards AR) and learning (immediate and lasting) outcomes. Whether AR is used or not and three individual differences were taken as causal conditions, which jointly influence the learning outcomes. FsQCA was used to deal with the non-linear and asymmetric relationship among the causal conditions, and to obtain the configurations of good or poor learning outcomes. The results show that, (i) using AR usually contributes to a sufficient configuration of good learning outcomes, (ii) especially is beneficial to lasting learning outcomes, (iii) but it is still not the necessary condition, and (iv) using AR by some types of students causes poor outcomes instead. Which types of students are suitable or not suitable to use AR is also be discussed. The study emphasizes the importance of personalized use of educational technology.

This study aims to determine the effect of numerical and spatial ability on mathematics learning outcomes of students class VIII of SMPN 2 Labuapi. This types of research is ex post facto research with a quantitative approach. The population of this study was students of class VIII SMPN 2 Labuapi. In determining the sample, the probability sampling technique is used with the types of cluster random sampling. The sample in this study were students of class VIII-B SMPN 2 Labuapi totaling 30 people. The data collection techniques used were test and documentation. This research uses statistic descriptive statistical analysis techniques and inferential statistical analysis techniques. The result obtained indicate that there is an influence on numerical and spatial ability on the mathematics learning outcomes of class VIII students of SMPN 2 Labuapi with an effect of 76,6%.

Previous research claimed that integration of augmented reality on educational settings helps to improve academic achievement of students in collaborative learning environments, as well as to improve their retention and ability to translate this within other environments. Since augmented reality is still considered relatively novel technology in educational fields, there is an inherent need for research-based guides to design effective and feasible augmented reality tools for school-based learning. The main aim of this study was therefore to design and develop an augmented reality learning toolkit to foster spatial ability in middle school students using mobile devices. The study was conducted in two parts, as preliminary research and a prototyping phase. The findings guided the characteristics for designing an augmented reality learning toolkit with a set of spatial tasks aimed at middle school students. In light of the results, it can be inferred that the students were able to use this designed toolkit to perform their spatial ability through given spatial tasks since the students encountered no technical difficulties with the final toolkit prototype, and that they were able to use the toolkit assuredly. In conclusion, the study showed that augmented reality seemed helpful in enhancing the usage of mobile devices, not just for the reading of books, communication or playing games, but also as a support mechanism for the learning of mathematics. Thus, the augmented reality toolkit developed in this study presents a new way for students and/or teachers to use mobile devices in the learning and teaching of mathematics.

In school mathematics, representations of solid figures and three-dimensional geometric objects generally rely on two-dimensional projective representation modes on students’ textbooks. In learning environments, these representation modes create a kind of cognitive filter, which prevents students with low spatial ability to comprehend and envision three-dimensional objects. Studies showed that spatial ability could be improved by means of suitable concrete models and computer created models in learning settings. Thus, fostering students’ spatial ability helps to overcome and eliminate negative effects of this cognitive filter. However, some studies suggest that this cognitive filter may even occur while working with computer created objects since computers generally rely on two-dimensional digitizer panels on screen technology. On the other hand, augmented reality interface allows a new way of learning environment which could help to overcome this cognitive filter by providing unique representation modes and opportunities to foster students’ spatial ability. In this study, an intervention with an augmented reality interface to foster students’ spatial understandings were reported in terms students’ invented strategies for spatial concepts. In this sense, eight seventh graders worked on spatial tasks with an augmented reality interface in learning settings. Findings revealed that while proceeding on spatial tasks, students could invent, use and modify spatial strategies. Moreover, students’ spatial understanding was fostered as they progressed on tasks with the designed augmented reality interface. This study is a part of an educational design research which was focused on design and development a proper augmented reality tool to foster spatial ability of students. As a result of this study, with the help of combination of augmented reality interface and spatial tasks, teachers will be provided with a new tool to visualize mathematical concepts and students could be supported with this new tool as a new learning material.

Introduction: This study examines the spatial abilities of middle school students with visual impairments (i.e., blindness and low vision) in the context of spatial visualization. The study also aims to examine the strategies used by such students in solving questions requiring spatial ability. Methods: Participants comprised eight students with visual impairments attending the 8th grade of a school in Ankara, Turkey, which teaches students with visual impairments. The data collection tool is composed of eight questions under the guidance of the definition for spatial visualization. Question types belonging to the spatial visualization subcomponent were organized in four topics: 2D rotation, 3D rotation, paper folding, and cube folding. Results: It was observed that students with visual impairments used mental rotation and key feature strategies for 2D rotation questions. They used the key feature strategy for 3D rotation questions and the mental manipulation strategy for cube folding and paper folding questions. Discussion: In this study, it was identified that strategies used by students with visual impairments show similarities with spatial strategies defined in the literature as used by students without visual impairments. Of all the other types of questions, the most successful question of students with visual impairments is the paper folding question. Implications for practitioners: The results of this article can help teachers become aware of the kind of difficulties that students with visual impairments encounter when they try to solve questions that require spatial ability.

Eye movements are highly dependent on the task and stimuli given to a viewer. If no tasks are specified, do individuals see the item or scene in the same way? How are one's spatial ability and creative performance in spatial design related to visual attention when looking at various visual aspects of an environment scene? This exploratory case study aimed at understanding individuals’ visual attentional pattern when looking at three–dimensional environment scenes with spatially relevant or decorative elements and its potential link with spatial ability and creative performance, using eye–tracking technology. Thirty–eight interior design students at a Midwestern university participated in the study. Three results emerged. First, visual engagement with spatially relevant elements in an environment scene was typically stronger with the high spatial ability group. Second, although the statistical evidence was not strong, regardless of the location of the decorative visual stimuli, the high spatial ability group tended to pay more attention to spatial components than the low spatial ability group; whereas the low spatial ability group seemed to be more attracted to decorative visual stimuli. Third, in a few images, an individual's tendency to view certain aspects was found to negatively or positively correlate with creative performance. The study represents the initial step in understanding an individual's visual attention to spatial elements in environment scenes and its potential correlation with spatial ability and creative performance in spatial design.

Previous studies have found that block play results in better spatial ability which may lead to greater mathematical skills. The current study examined a specific type of block play, structured blo...

Musicians with absolute pitch ability show better spatial ability, but little is known about whether non-musicians’ pitch identification (PI) ability is associated with their spatial ability. In the present study, a PI test, two mental rotation (MR) tests (Three-Dimensional Mental Rotation [3DMR] and Spatial Relationship [SR]), and eight executive function (EF) tests were administered to a large sample ( N = 525) of Chinese college students who were non-music majors. A subsample with superior PI ability ( n = 42) was identified and compared with a sample with average PI ability matched in age and IQ ( n = 42). Two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) (PI ability x musical training, with gender as a covariate due to a minor difference in matching by gender) revealed that superior PI ability was associated with better performance on MR and various EF tests. Musical training was associated with performance on select visual and EF tests (i.e., visual perception, working memory, and executive attention control), but not with MR performance. Additional ANCOVA showed that PI ability was significantly associated with 3DMR, but not SR, even after scores on EF tests were included as covariates. These results indicate a unique association between PI ability and 3DMR, which helps shed light on the cognitive mechanisms related to PI ability.

Spatial ability has been shown the positive correlations with the mathematics achievement of typically developing children. However, whether there is a relationship between spatial ability and mathematics achievement in deaf children and the mechanisms that underlie the relationship remain unknown. 256 deaf children in Grades 3 to 9 in two special education schools in China performed a series of cognitive and mathematical tests. After controlling for age and gender, we found that spatial ability, processing speed (both accuracy and reaction time), and intelligence were significantly related to mathematics achievement. Moreover, processing speed and intelligence were found to mediate the relationship between spatial ability and mathematics achievement in deaf children. The mediating effect of intelligence was significantly greater than the serial mediating effect of processing speed (accuracy) and then intelligence; both the mediating effect of processing speed (reaction time) and the mediating effect of intelligence were significantly greater than the serial mediating effect of processing speed (reaction time) and then intelligence. These findings suggest a process through which processing speed can decrease intelligence and identify the mediating effects of processing speed (both accuracy and reaction time) and intelligence in the relationship between spatial ability and mathematics achievement in deaf children.

Grounded and embodied cognition (GEC) serves as a framework to investigate mathematical reasoning for proof (reasoning that is logical, operative, and general), insight (gist), and intuition (snap judgment). Geometry is the branch of mathematics concerned with generalizable properties of shape and space. Mathematics experts (N = 46) and nonexperts (N = 44) were asked to judge the truth and to justify their judgments for four geometry conjectures. Videotaped interviews were transcribed and coded for occurrences of gestures and speech during the proof production process. Analyses provide empirical support for claims that geometry proof production is an embodied activity, even when controlling for math expertise, language use, and spatial ability. Dynamic depictive gestures portray generalizable properties of shape and space through enactment of transformational operations (e.g., dilation, skewing). Occurrence of dynamic depictive gestures and nondynamic depictive gestures are associated with proof performance, insight, and intuition, as hypothesized, over and above contributions of spoken language. Geometry knowledge for proof may be embodied and accessed and revealed through actions and the transformational speech utterances describing these actions. These findings have implications for instruction, assessment of embodied knowledge, and the design of educational technology to facilitate mathematical reasoning by promoting and tracking dynamic gesture production and transformational speech. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

In a direction-giving task, we examine whether a high-level constraint—the task partners’ relative body alignment—influences spatial language use and task accuracy. In 32 pairs, task partners interacted in two conditions: for one route description, direction givers (DGs) and direction followers (DFs) sat side-by-side (aligned condition), and for another they sat opposite one another (counter-aligned condition). After each description, DFs drew the route on a map. When pairs were counter-aligned (vs. aligned), DGs increased their use of expressions from a survey perspective, using more frequently terms such as east-west. When counter-aligned, DFs also used more words per conversational turn, which was taken to reflect the increased difficulty of coordinating in that condition. Still, in terms of task performance, the accuracy of DFs’ drawings was unaffected by the partners’ body alignment or spatial language use it was only predicted by the DGs’ spatial ability. We argue that, because direction giving emphasizes accuracy, task partners invest in strategies that contribute to mutual understanding (e.g., recaps of the route by the DF at the end, evidenced by shifts in language use over time). Thus, body alignment in direction giving impacts coordination difficulty and spatial language use, but it does not singularly influence task performance. 57 2 99 121

Summary: This study will examine the extent to which different aspects of spatial ability (i.e., navigation, object manipulation and visualisation), distilled from a battery of 16 tests, can predict STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) educational outcomes, post-secondary degree choice and STEM-related non-cognitive factors, and the extent of their prediction after accounting for general cognitive ability. The project will leverage data from the longitudinal Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), including a comprehensive battery of spatial ability tests collected when the twins were 18 years old. We will employ factor analysis, linear and multiple regression within a structural equation model (SEM) framework to: a) produce latent variables for the three factors of spatial ability (as previously described in Malanchini et al., 2020a), b) analyse the association between these variables and key STEM-related education and life outcomes, c) examine the specific predictive ability of spatial skills beyond general cognitive ability. Finally, we will explore the aetiology driving the associations between spatial skills and educational and life outcomes by conducting bivariate and trivariate Cholesky decompositions. Background: STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is becoming increasingly important in our increasingly technological world. For governments and businesses, higher student engagement in STEM represents an investment in human capital development; at the individual level, success in STEM is associated with a myriad of positive life outcomes, including income, well-being, and all-cause mortality (Goodman, 2019; Betts and Rose, 2001, Dreary, Hill and Gale, 2021). Given this, it is important to first understand the factors that predict both success in STEM education and one’s decision to pursue STEM careers—the basic knowledge necessary to increase overall engagement in STEM as well as reduce disparities in STEM outcomes. As with achievement in education more broadly, success in STEM subjects at school varies in the population. Research has shown that much of the individual variation in educational achievement can be accounted for by inherited DNA differences between individuals (see Malanchini, Rimfeld, Allegrini, Ritchie & Plomin, 2020 for a review). Both cognitive ability and non-cognitive factors (e.g., self-efficacy, motivation and mathematics anxiety) have been shown to contribute to the heritability of educational achievement, with shared genetic influences between the cognitive and non-cognitive factors explaining around 75% of achievement’s total heritability (Krapohl et al., 2014). Compared to the extant literature on educational achievement more broadly, however, there has been little genetically-informed work focusing specifically on STEM achievement and its predictors. A recent study exploring the genetic and environmental overlap between emotions, attitudes and performance (i.e. non-cognitive factors) in mathematics found a strong genetic overlap between these mathematics-related traits (Malanchini et al., 2020b). This provides a first line of evidence for delving deeper into the investigation of how students develop, select and modify STEM-related attitudes and experiences, partly based on their genetic predispositions. In addition to these non-cognitive factors, previous literature has shown that spatial ability (a domain of cognitive ability defined broadly as one’s ability to manipulate mental representations of objects) predicts STEM outcomes (Wai, Lubinsky and Penbow, 2009). However, theoretical discordances with regards to the architecture of the construct have stymied its adoption in psychological and educational longitudinal research. Specifically, it is unknown whether the different subdomains of spatial ability represent a single construct or several different ones. In an effort to elucidate this architecture, Malanchini et al. (2020c) employed factor analysis on a comprehensive novel battery of 16 spatial ability tests and found evidence for a hierarchical model in which 3 factors emerged (navigation, object manipulation and visualisation). All 3 factors were highly intercorrelated (mainly for genetic reasons) and loaded substantially onto a general factor. This unitary factor of spatial ability was found to be highly heritable at 84%. Critically, 45% of this genetic influence was independent of genetic influence on general cognitive ability. This finding supports previous work finding that spatial ability may be distinguishable, both phenotypically and genetically, from general cognitive ability (Rimfeld et al., 2017). In other words, spatial ability can be thought of as a cognitive skill in its own right, distinct from—and thus relatively untapped by—measures of general cognitive ability. The finding that spatial ability is characterized by a multi-factorial structure that appears to be distinct from general cognitive ability presents exciting new avenues of inquiry for understanding the role of spatial skills in propelling individuals on different STEM trajectories. Principally, it allows us to explore the heterogeneity (or lack thereof) in predictive value amongst spatial domains: does, for example, object manipulation predict certain STEM outcomes better than navigation? Furthermore, a paucity of research has examined the role of spatial ability for STEM outcomes within a developmental context. Fundamentally, no research to date has investigated the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to their association, not least with a comprehensive battery of spatial ability tests tapping multiple domains of spatial ability. The present study will leverage this unique, novel, and comprehensive battery of spatial tests alongside longitudinal data from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) to investigate the specific role of the three subdomains of spatial ability in predicting STEM outcomes (beyond general cognitive ability) within a developmental context, and to explore the aetiology underlying these associations. For comparison, we will also associate spatial ability with non-STEM educational outcomes (e.g. English and humanities grades).

Replication and re-analysis of Weisberg et al. (2014)

JEPLMC paper. Data and code.

Problem-driven visualization work is rooted in deeply understanding the data, actors, processes, and workflows of a target domain. However, an individual's personality traits and cognitive abilities may also influence visualization use. Diverse user needs and abilities raise natural questions for specificity in visualization design: Could individuals from different domains exhibit performance differences when using visualizations? Are any systematic variations related to their cognitive abilities? This study bridges domain-specific perspectives on visualization design with those provided by cognition and perception. We measure variations in visualization task performance across chemistry, computer science, and education, and relate these differences to variations in spatial ability. We conducted an online study with over 60 domain experts consisting of tasks related to pie charts, isocontour plots, and 3D scatterplots, and grounded by a well-documented spatial ability test. Task performance (correctness) varied with profession across more complex visualizations, but not pie charts, a comparatively common visualization. We found that correctness correlates with spatial ability, and the professions differ in terms of spatial ability. These results indicate that domains differ not only in the specifics of their data and tasks, but also in terms of how effectively their constituent members engage with visualizations and their cognitive traits. Analyzing participants' confidence and strategy comments suggests that focusing on performance neglects important nuances, such as differing approaches to engage with even common visualizations and potential skill transference. Our findings offer a fresh perspective on discipline-specific visualization with recommendations to help guide visualization design that celebrates the uniqueness of the disciplines and individuals we seek to serve., The paper has been accepted to IEEE VIS 2021, and will appear in IEEE TVCG. 11 pages with 9 figures

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer in others, their attitudes, beliefs, desires, intentions (Butterfill & Apperly, 2013). ToM has gained increased interest recently due to the development of artificial social intelligence (ASI). At a basic level, social intelligence is defined as the ability to work cooperatively with others to achieve a goal (Ford & Tisak, 1983). As such, for ASI to be able to interact with humans effectively, it needs to be able to develop a ToM of the humans in order to predict action or act in an advisory role. To develop ASI that can represent ToM of humans, it is necessary to understand what aspects of the human are needed for the ASI to accurately represent the humans intentions, beliefs, and actions. This study proposes that ASI needs to consider individual spatial ability when developing ToM for human teammates and that ASI needs to consider spatial ability in conjunction with participant experience and overall task complexity in order to improve the performance of ASI agents.

Research has demonstrated links between sport and mathematics learning, and their relationship with spatial abilities in children. This study explored the association between the development of fundamental movement skills (FMS) and mathematics achievement, and whether the understanding of specific spatial concepts mediated these relationships. Overall, 154 Year 3 children (69 males, 85 females, aged 7–8 years) from four schools in England completed an FMS assessment involving six skills; four spatial tasks assessing intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static, and extrinsic-dynamic spatial abilities; and a mathematics test assessing numerical, geometrical, and arithmetical abilities. Overall FMS ability (a combined score across the six skills) was significantly positively correlated to overall mathematics achievement. This relationship was mediated by children’s performance on the intrinsic-static spatial ability test. These findings suggest that children who have more mature FMS perform better in mathematics tasks, and this could be due to more developed intrinsic-static spatial ability. However, further research is necessary to determine the mediation effects of intrinsic-dynamic and extrinsic-static spatial ability.

INTRODUCTION The relationship between the spatial ability levels of students and anatomy education is not well established in the literature, but it was stated that students should take short-term training during the first years of their education. There is limited number of studies on this topic. In that respect, the aim of this study was to determine the spatial ability levels of medical, dental and nursing students and to evaluate whether this ability level showed difference with respect to faculty, anatomy courses attended or short-term training, or not. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study sample was composed of 1071 students. Data were collected by Personal Information Form, Visualization of Views Test (VoVT) and Cross Section Test (CST). Data analyses were done by SPSS 21 package software. RESULTS Students were determined to have medium level spatial ability. Medical and dental students were found to have higher spatial ability levels than nursing students. Medical and nursing students' CST scores showed significant difference after taking anatomy course. After short-term training, both CST and VoVT scores of students differed significantly. CONCLUSION Supporting anatomy courses with education materials appropriate for the spatial ability level of students and introducing spatial ability development trainings in small groups would aid in increasing spatial ability levels of students.

We examined the association between early-life participation in collision sports and later-life cognitive health over a 28-year period in a population-based sample drawn from the longitudinal Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (1987–2014). Cognitive measures included the Mini-Mental State Examination and performance across multiple cognitive domains (e.g., global cognition, verbal ability, spatial ability, memory, processing speed). Among a sample of 660 adults (mean age at baseline, 62.8 years (range: 50–88); 58.2% female), who contributed 10,944 person-years of follow-up, there were 450 cases of cognitive impairment (crude rate = 41.1/1,000 person-years). Early-life participation in collision sports was not significantly associated with cognitive impairment at baseline or with its onset over a 28-year period in a time-to-event analysis, which accounted for the semi-competing risk of death. Furthermore, growth curve models revealed no association between early-life participation in collision sports and the level of or change in trajectories of cognition across multiple domains overall or in sex-stratified models. We discuss the long-term implications of adolescent participation in collision sports on cognitive health.

This study aims to develop intertextual-based learning strategies using visualization models to improve students' spatial abilities on molecular geometry concepts. In this study using the method of Research and Development (R and D). The research subjects used were 20 high school 10th grade students. In this study the instrument used was in the form of an intertextual-based learning strategy validation sheet with visualization models, 3D visualization software, and spatial ability tests. Spatial ability consists of three indicators to be evaluated, namely spatial relations, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization. The results of intertextual-based learning strategy research with developed visualization models can improve spatial ability. Students can understand molecular geometry from the concept of VSEPR theory and valence bond theory. Results pre-test student on the spatial relations (26.67 percent), spatial orientation (10.10 percent), and spatial visualization (7.41 percent). After being tested intertextual-based learning strategies with visualization models of students' post-test results on the spatial relations (58.33 percent), spatial orientation (50.00 percent), and spatial visualization (27.78 percent).

The Chinese abacus was invented 1800 years ago as a piece of calculation equipment for economic education and support. The abacus no longer serves as an economic tool but has emerged as a powerful educational tool to promote individual development. It is not yet known, however, whether abacus training may lead to cognitive transfer in the individual development context. This transfer effect was investigated in the present study with a randomized controlled design centered on comparison against abacus training with cognitive training and English training. The final sample consisted of 343 vocational school/college students (55 males, mean age = 17.79 years, range: 14.17 to 24.67 years) whom completed the pre-test, the 52-h training session, and the post-test. Participants in each school or college were randomly assigned into three training groups based on their pre-test scores. Abacus training is shown to promote calculation and spatial abilities by comparison with English training, and to promote calculation ability and processing speed by comparison with cognitive training. Cognitive training shows transfer effect of spatial ability by comparison with English training. However, abacus training does not show pervasive transfer effect for any general cognitive abilities that do not typically involve numerical processing or visuospatial processing. These findings suggest a limited transfer effect of abacus training on cognitive development.

BACKGROUND There is very little research on the cognitive profile of young children with Williams syndrome (WS). METHOD The present study utilised the Differential Ability Scales - Second Edition to examine the early cognitive abilities of 22 young children with WS (aged 3.98 to 7.70 years, 10 male and 12 female participants). RESULTS Overall, IQ ranged from 38 (severely impaired) to 81.00 (low average). Consistent with Mervis et al. who looked at an older sample, over half (59.08%) of our young WS sample showed a significant and abnormal weakness in spatial ability relative to verbal ability. Moreover, 81.82% showed a significant and clinically unusual weakness in spatial ability relative to nonverbal reasoning ability. At the subtest level, only 4.55% of our sample showed a significant strength in naming vocabulary compared with verbal comprehension, while 13.64% showed a significant weakness in naming vocabulary relative to verbal comprehension. CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study show cognitive heterogeneity, consistent with the literature on older children and adults with WS. There were variable levels of intellect and variable patterns of cognitive strength and weakness across both index and subtest scores. Findings highlight the need for individual assessment and management of young children with WS but also indicate that for the majority of WS individuals spatial skills are indeed an area of significant and abnormal weakness and should be a focus for early intervention.

We focused on connecting active methods and the historically known technique named blueprint in educational process of mathematics in this paper. The alternation of methods contributes to the variety and diversity of the teaching process, making the educational process more interesting and engaging for students. We prepared interesting worksheets for the students. The purpose of this study is to analyze active students´ work during several math lessons. We preferred a qualitative approach to research, namely action research, considering of the self-critical analysis of partial results, typical for this research.

Objective Developing and validating a novel domain-agnostic, computer-based training tool for enhancing 2D cross-section understanding of complex 3D structures. Background Understanding 2D cross-sections of 3D structures is a crucial skill in many disciplines, from geology to medical imaging . It requires a complex set of spatial/visualization skills including mental rotation, spatial structure understanding, and viewpoint projection. Prior studies show that experts differ from novices in these skills. Method We have developed a novel training tool for inferring 2D cross-sections of 3D structures using a participatory design methodology. We used a between-subject study design, with 60 participants, to evaluate the training tool. Our primary effectiveness evaluation was based on pre- and postspatial tests that measured both cross-section abilities and specific spatial skills: viewpoint, mental rotation, and card rotation. Results Results showed significant performance gains on inferring 2D cross-sections for participants of the training group. Our tool improves two other spatial skills as well: mental rotation and viewpoint visualization. Conclusion Our training tool was effective not only in enhancing 2D cross-section understanding of complex 3D structures, but also in improving mental rotation and viewpoint visualization skills. Application Our tool can be beneficial in different fields such as medical imaging, biology, geology, and engineering. For example, an application of our tool is in medical/research labs to train novice segmenters in ongoing manual 3D segmentation tasks. It can also be adapted in other contexts, such as training children, older adults, and individuals with very low spatial skills.

Cybersickness describes the nausea and discomfort that frequently emerges upon exposure to a virtual reality (VR) environment. The extent to which cybersickness leads to temporary constraints in cognitive functioning after VR exposure is a critical aspect of evaluating the risk to human safety where VR tasks are used for workforce training. Here, we examined whether VR exposure results in deteriorated cognitive spatial ability and attention, and if this possible deterioration is related to cybersickness. A standardized cognitive test battery consisting of Corsi blocks task (CBT), Manikin spatial task (MST), and color trails test (CTT-A and -B) was administered before and after participants were exposed to virtual reality (VR group), or engaged in interactive board games (control group). The performance of participants in CBT remained unchanged from pre-test to post-test in both groups, while performance in MST improved in the control and remained stable in VR group. Response times in CTT-A remained stable in the VR group but reduced significantly in the control group. Regarding CTT-B, participants from both groups became significantly faster in post-test. We did not observe any significant sex differences, or effects of past VR experience, across measures of cognitive performance or cybersickness. Crucially, no significant correlations were found between cognitive performance changes and cybersickness scores in any cases. The results provide encouragement for the use of VR in professional settings, suggesting that VR and cybersickness may minimally limit subsequent cognitive processing. However, it will be crucial to further examine the aftereffects in other cognitive functions.

Engineering Drawing (ED) is one of the fundamental courses for various engineering disciplines. However, first-year engineering undergraduates often face difficulties in learning and solving ED pro...

The study’s purpose was to examine the contribution of a programmable robot to an intervention program for promoting spatial ability (spatial relations, visual-memory, mental rotation) of preschool...

A rich pool of geographic and environmental ideas are embedded children’s literature. This paper illuminates the geographic and environmental education themes present in second to eighth grade Comm...

Identifying meaningful cognitive and noncognitive predictors of mathematical competence is critical for developing targeted interventions for students struggling with mathematics. Here, 317 students’ short-term verbal memory, verbal and visuospatial working memory, complex spatial abilities, intelligence, and mathematics attitudes and anxiety were assessed, and their teachers reported on their attentive behavior in 7th-grade mathematics classrooms. Bayesian regression models revealed that complex spatial abilities and in-class attention were the most plausible predictors of 7th-grade mathematics, but not word reading achievement, controlling for prior mathematics achievement. These results were confirmed with multilevel models that revealed interactions between these factors and prior achievement. The largest gains were among students with strong mathematical competencies in 6th grade, and average or better in-class attention in 7th grade as well as above average spatial abilities. High mathematics anxiety was associated with lower attention and through this indirectly influenced achievement gains. These results have implications for how to best target interventions for students at risk for long-term difficulties with mathematics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

A primary affordance of virtual reality (VR) headsets is to give the user spatial presence or the illusion of being in the virtual environment. Although considerable research connects VR to spatial presence, spatial awareness, and spatial ability, little is known about how users develop spatial presence in VR learning environments. This study addresses that gap by exploring spatial presence experience construction in a VR educational game and investigating whether users’ knowledge, game experience, and VR experience impact the establishment of spatial presence. In this study, 56 high school students played an immersive 3D VR cell biology game where players search for clues within a virtual cell to diagnose the cell. Findings suggest that players’ perceptions of spatial presence are linked to how they allocate their attention during the game, their level of interest in cellular biology, and their visual-spatial acuity, but are not linked to their game experience, VR experience, or prior knowledge of the content area. These results indicate that well-scaffolded, engaging virtual environments can foster spatial presence among users, regardless of prior knowledge or experience, and gives practitioners clues about how to design VR learning environments.

Spatial ability is considered a major factor of intelligence and is increasingly important in times of digitization. This article explores the fostering of spatial ability through computer-aided design software. Different notions of spatial ability will be discussed, and, finally, a concept consisting of five aspects will be described. In addition, literature reviews on the connection between the use of computers and the fostering of spatial ability, as well as on the use of 3D printing technology in mathematics education, are given. Building on this, a case study is presented which examines the work of two middle-school students using computer-aided design software within a workshop at the University of Siegen. From the data material, basic possible actions within such software are derived. These are, based on theory, connected with the five aspects of the specific concept of spatial ability used. The results show various perspectives for the fostering of spatial ability with computer-aided design software.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of augmented reality (AR) using a 3D app in a smartphone on students’ learning outcomes and satisfaction in teaching angle measurement error ...

In this study it was aimed to determine the effect of geometrical-mechanical intelligence games activities that are conducted with concrete materials and in computer environment on the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers and to examine the opinions of prospective teachers about the activities. The research was conducted with mixed-method research. The study group consists of 49 prospective teachers. The obtained quantitative data were collected with “Differential Aptitude Test” and “Mental Rotation Test” and qualitative data were collected with “Open-Ended Questionnaire”. In the analysis of obtained quantitative data, paired samples t-test and one-way analysis of covariance were used and in the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis was used. According to the findings in the research, it was determined that the activities that are conducted both with concrete materials and in computer environment significantly increased the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers. In addition to this, it was determined that there was not a difference between the increases in the spatial visualization and mental rotation skills of prospective teachers after the activities were conducted. Furthermore, prospective teachers stated that they had fun while performing the activities, the activities developed their visual/spatial intelligence, three-dimensional thinking and establishing a part-whole relationship, increased their attention and concentration and thought and decided faster and more accurate in the second time they were answering the spatial ability tests.

This study aims to investigate the effect of using LOGO on the improvement of spatial visualisation abilities among fourth-grade elementary students. In order to achieve this objective, the researchers have selected the Arabic version of spatial ability test prepared by Paul Newton and Helen Bristoll, which involves spatial visualisation perception. The researchers have employed the pre and post-test quasi-experimental approach. The research was applied to a sample group composed of 53 students enrolled in the fourth grade of the elementary stage. The sample group was selected from an elementary school-based in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Members of the sample group were randomly and simply divided into two groups; specifically the experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught using LOGO programming language, while the control group was taught using the traditional method. After implementing the research treatment and processing data and information statistically, findings revealed that there are statistical differences between the two groups; namely, the experimental and control groups – in terms of the development of spatial visualisation perception in favour of the experimental group.

Three-dimensional (3D) digital anatomical models show potential to demonstrate complex anatomical relationships; however, the literature is inconsistent as to whether they are effective in improving the anatomy performance, particularly for students with low spatial visualization ability (Vz). This study investigated the educational effectiveness of a 3D stereoscopic model of the pelvis, and the relationship between learning with 3D models and Vz. It was hypothesized that participants learning with a 3D pelvis model would outperform participants learning with a two-dimensional (2D) visualization or cadaveric specimen on a spatial anatomy test, particularly when comparing those with low Vz. Participants (n = 64) were stratified into three experimental groups, who each attended a learning session with either a 3D stereoscopic model (n = 21), 2D visualization (n = 21), or cadaveric specimen (n = 22) of the pelvis. Medical and pre-medical student participants completed a multiple-choice pre-test and post-test during their respective learning session, and a long-term retention (LTR) test 2 months later. Results showed no difference in anatomy test improvement or LTR performance between the experimental groups. A simple linear regression analysis showed that within the 3D group, participants with high Vz tended to retain more than those with low Vz on the LTR test (R2 = 0.31, P = 0.01). The low Vz participants may be cognitively overloaded by the complex spatial cues from the 3D stereoscopic model. Results of this study should inform resource selection and curriculum design for health professional students, with attention to the impact of Vz on learning.