Mental Rotation Report
Effects of degree of rotation
012687
University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Abstract
The following study does a replication of Cooper and Shepard’s (1973) study on mental rotation using rotated and normal stimulus. The study investigated the effects of degree of rotation of the stimulus on the time taken (RT) for participants to distinguish between inversed stimuli and non-inversed stimuli. In the following study, we used 2 normal stimuli and 2 inversed of the normal stimuli, and applied 19 levels of angular rotations ranging from 0 degree to 180 degree. Fifty-five participants took part in the following study, and everyone was briefed on the purpose of the experiment. The design of the following experiment used a within-subjects design where everyone did the same experiment in the same computer laboratory and received the same set of instructions. The pictorial stimuli ran on experiment software, and participants were required to provide keyboard response. It was revealed that participants so apply mental rotation while working with inversed and rotated stimuli, and that the higher the angular rotation, the higher the RT of participants. This supports Cooper and Shepard’s findings.
The human mind is amazing. As humans, our brain process information in a complex manner, allowing us to carry everyday activities and have a mind of our own that differs from others. From automisation process to mental imagery, the cognitive psychologies of our everyday lives play a huge part in humans’ lives. When one mentally constructs a scene in their mind, it is known as mental imagery. How is this abstract information represented and manipulated in our brain? There are several theories to explain how one could synthesise mental images. Firstly, the Dual-Coding Hypothesis proposed by Paivio (1971) suggests that there are two systems in our brain to help us process mental imagery information. Humans use these two different systems (verbal system and
012687
University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Abstract
The following study does a replication of Cooper and Shepard’s (1973) study on mental rotation using rotated and normal stimulus. The study investigated the effects of degree of rotation of the stimulus on the time taken (RT) for participants to distinguish between inversed stimuli and non-inversed stimuli. In the following study, we used 2 normal stimuli and 2 inversed of the normal stimuli, and applied 19 levels of angular rotations ranging from 0 degree to 180 degree. Fifty-five participants took part in the following study, and everyone was briefed on the purpose of the experiment. The design of the following experiment used a within-subjects design where everyone did the same experiment in the same computer laboratory and received the same set of instructions. The pictorial stimuli ran on experiment software, and participants were required to provide keyboard response. It was revealed that participants so apply mental rotation while working with inversed and rotated stimuli, and that the higher the angular rotation, the higher the RT of participants. This supports Cooper and Shepard’s findings.
The human mind is amazing. As humans, our brain process information in a complex manner, allowing us to carry everyday activities and have a mind of our own that differs from others. From automisation process to mental imagery, the cognitive psychologies of our everyday lives play a huge part in humans’ lives. When one mentally constructs a scene in their mind, it is known as mental imagery. How is this abstract information represented and manipulated in our brain? There are several theories to explain how one could synthesise mental images. Firstly, the Dual-Coding Hypothesis proposed by Paivio (1971) suggests that there are two systems in our brain to help us process mental imagery information. Humans use these two different systems (verbal system and