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Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

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Abstract

Mental rotation is an important spatial skill. However, there is controversy concerning its early development and susceptibility to intervention. In the present study, we assessed individual differences in the mental rotation abilities of children between 3½ and 5½ years of age, using a touch screen paradigm to simplify task demands. A figure or its mirror image was presented in 8 different orientations, and children indicated in which of two holes the figure would fit by touching one of the holes on the screen. Task instructions were varied in three conditions, giving the children the opportunity to gather manual or observational experience with rotations of different stimuli, or giving no additional experience. Children’s error rates and response times increased linearly with increasing angular disparity between the figure and the hole by the age of 5 years, but 4-year-olds were found to respond at chance for all angular disparities, despite the use of a touch screen paradigm. Both manual and observational experience increased the response accuracy of 5-year-olds, especially for children already performing well. However, there was no effect on 4-year-olds. Results point to an emerging readiness to use mental rotation and profit from observational and manual experience at age 5.

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Notes

  1. Analyses for 4-year-old good performers showed no effects of disparity, F(4, 32) = 1.31, p = .29, η 2 = 0.14, and no main effect of or interaction with instruction condition (F < 1).

  2. There was no such effect in 4-year-old good performers (F < 1).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by research grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation #PBZH1-117012 and from the US National Science Foundation #SBE-0541957.

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Author notes

  1. Andrea Frick

    Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3000, Bern 9, Switzerland

  2. Katrina Ferrara

    Present address: Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Andrea Frick, Katrina Ferrara & Nora S. Newcombe

Authors
  1. Andrea Frick
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  2. Katrina Ferrara
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  3. Nora S. Newcombe
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Correspondence to Andrea Frick.

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This article is part of the special issue on “Spatial Learning and Reasoning Processes”.

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Frick, A., Ferrara, K. & Newcombe, N.S. Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age. Cogn Process 14, 117–127 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0534-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0534-0

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