Search

Sex differences in mental rotation performance are one of the largest in cognitive psychology. Men outperform women by up to 1 SD in psychometric mental rotation tests, but it is often neglected that there are no or only small sex differences for chronometric tests. As both tests are supposed to measure the same ability, we suspect some features of the tests themselves to affect sex differences in performance. Following a theoretical review of the test features, we evaluate the effects of the number of possible answer alternatives, whether they are presented as pairwise mirrored, and their interaction on sex differences in mental rotation performance. In an online experiment, 838 German-speaking participants, 421 women, 417 men, M age = 42.58 (SD = 12.54) years, solved four blocks of mental rotation trials with two or eight alternatives, which were either pairwise mirrored or not. The results show that that the overall performance was lower for more alternatives and for mixed alternatives but not for their interaction. We could not determine explanations for sex differences as we did not observe meaningful sex differences at all. Possible reasons include the differences between men and women in age and education. This study suggests that the differences between tests affect performance. Sex differences, however, need more investigation, including possible effects and interactions of the test design, education, and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study aim: To assess the influence of juggling training on mental rotation performance in children. Material and methods: Two groups of girls aged 6-14 years were studied: experimental (EG; n = 26) and control (CG; n = 24). All girls solved a mental rotation task with 3-D block figures on computer screen (pre-test). After the initial test, EG girls participated in juggling training for 3 months; the CG girls participated in light strength training with theraband stretch bands. After 3 months, all girls solved the mental rotation task again (post-test). The post-pre differences in the mental rotation performance were recorded. Results: Children who learned juggling performed the mental rotation task significantly (p less than 0.05-0.01) faster, in terms of reaction time, at non-zero angular disparity than their mates who were strength-trained. Conclusions: Since mental rotation skills enhance spatial imagination, problem solving and mathematical skills, it may be assumed that juggling training enhances also other cognitive domains and is worth implementing in the education process. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

It has been shown that motor coordination training can enhance performance in spatial cognition tasks. This was investigated in an applied setting. Twenty-eight office workers attended either cognitive motor coordination training or core-stability training for one hour every week for six weeks. Before and after training, mental rotation and spatial visualization as well as cognitive processing speed were measured. Results showed a significant improvement in both spatial tasks after the cognitive motor coordination training but not in the general cognitive measurement. Core-stability training did not impact either of these dependent variables. It is concluded that motor coordination training can be a useful supplement for working environments where spatial cognition is essential, such as architecture or surgery.