Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mental rotation validation of two spatial ability tests

  • Published:
Psychological Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Three tests of spatial ability — speeded mental rotation and the Card Rotation and Revised Minnesota Form Board Tests — were examined with 32 college students. The slope of the linear function relating response time to angle of rotation in the mental rotation task was stimulus-dependent, increasing with stimulus symmetry. Males strongly dominated females on the Card Rotation Test and in speed of mental rotation, but not on the Minnesota Form Board Test or in the intercept of the judgment-time by angle-of-rotation plot. Practice with the simple forms used in the mental rotation task substantially improved scores with the many more complex forms used in the Card Rotation Test, but did not improve scores on the Minnesota Form Board Test. These results are not due to speed-accuracy tradeoff strategy differences. They suggest that “spatial ability” is not unitary and that test-based sex differences in spatial ability largely reflect differences in rotation speed or in a factor underlying rotation speed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Attneave, F.: Physical determinants of the judged complexity of shapes. J. Psychol. 53, 221–227 (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D., Fiske, D.: Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychol. Bull. 56, 81–105 (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, L.: Mental rotation of random two-dimensional shapes. Cogn. Psychol. 7, 20–43 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, L.: Demonstration of a mental analog of an external rotation. Percept. Psychophys. 19, 296–302 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, L.: Individual differences in visual comparison processes. Percept. Psychophys. 19, 433–444 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, L., Podgorny, P.: Mental transformations and visual comparison processes: effects of complexity and similarity. J. Exp. Psychol. Human Perception and Performance, 2, 503–514 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, L., Shepard, R.: The time to prepare for a rotated stimulus. Mem. Cognit. 1, 246–250 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • French, J., Ekstrom, R., Price, L.: Manual for a kit of reference tests for cognitive factors. Princeton, New Jersey: Educational Testing Service 1963

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochberg, J., Gellman, L.: The effect of landmark features on mental rotation times. Mem. Cognit. 5, 23–26 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunnapas, T.: An analysis of the “Vertical-horizontal illusion.” J. Exp. Psychol. 49, 134–140 (1955)

    Google Scholar 

  • Likert, R., Quasha, W.: Revised Minnesota paper form board test. New York: The Psychological Corporation 1970

    Google Scholar 

  • Maccoby, E., Jacklin, C.: The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press 1974

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzler, J., Shepard, R.: Transformational studies of the internal representation of three-dimensional objects. In: R. Solso (Ed.), Theories of cognitive psychology; The Loyola symposium. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum 1974

    Google Scholar 

  • Munsterberg, H.: Studies from the Harvard psychological laboratory (I). A psychometric investigation of the psycho-physic law. Psychol. Rev. 1, 45–51 (1894)

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrusic, W.M., Jamieson, D.G.: Resolution time and the coding of arithmetic relations on supraliminally different visual extents. J. Math. Psychol. (under review) (1978)

  • Shepard, R., Feng, C.: A chronometric study of mental paper folding. Cogn. Psychol. 3, 228–243 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepard, R., Metzler, J.: Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science 171, 701–703 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sleight, R., Austin, T.: The horizontal-vertical illusion in plane geometric figures. J. Psychol. 33, 279–289 (1952)

    Google Scholar 

  • Varro, L.: Mental rotation, sex differences and transfer onto spatial tests. Unpublished MA Thesis, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, January, 1977

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    William M. Petrusic, Linda Varro & Donald G. Jamieson

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    William M. Petrusic, Linda Varro & Donald G. Jamieson

Authors
  1. William M. Petrusic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Linda Varro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Donald G. Jamieson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Preparation of this manuscript was supported by grants from NRC and Carleton University to Petrusic and from NRC to Jamieson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Petrusic, W.M., Varro, L. & Jamieson, D.G. Mental rotation validation of two spatial ability tests. Psychol. Res 40, 139–148 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308409

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308409

Keywords

Search

Navigation