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Individual strategies in a spatial task and how they relate to aptitudes

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Abstract

Thirty-two subjects were first submitted to a series of aptitude tests, then participated in a mental rotation task with advance information (Cooper, 1975), and finally gave retrospective reports about their solution strategy. The verbal reports showed that different subjects used different strategies to perform the rotation task, and also that some subjects shifted strategies, in that they successively adopted several ways of processing the same task. The coding of verbal reports led to distinguish five types of strategies (called rotation, partial rotation, verbal, projection, multiple). Five groups of subjects using preferentially one of these strategies were constituted. For each group hypotheses on performance were tested via analyses on reaction times and errors. These analyses confirmed that the five strategy groups produced different patterns of RT in conformity with verbal reports. Moreover the comparison of the mental aptitude profiles across the different strategy groups suggests that strategy choices are affected by steady and general characteristics of cognitive functioning.

Résumé

Trente-deux étudiants préalablement soumis à une batterie de tests mesurant différentes aptitudes (verbale, spatiale, raisonnement, ...) ont passé une tâche de traitement de l'information spatiale (Cooper, 1975). Les verbalisations produites par les sujets immédiatement après la passation ont montré qu'il existe une grande variabilité interindividuelle des stratégies mises en oeuvre pour réaliser la tâche, mais aussi que certains sujets adoptent successivement plusieurs modes de traitement. Sur la base des verbalisations 5 types de stratégies ont été identifiées (rotation, rotation partielle, verbale, projective, multiple), et 5 groupes de sujets utilisant préférentiellement l'une de ces stratégies ont été constitués. Pour chaque groupe, les hypothèses émises sur les traitements à partir de l'analyse des verbalisations ont ensuite été testées par des analyses de temps de traitement. Ces analyses ont permis de vérifier que les 5 groupes présentent des patterns de TR distincts et compatibles avec leurs verbalisations. Par ailleurs les relations observées entre les stratégies et les scores aux tests vont dans le sens de l'hypothèse selon laquelle des dimensions stables, plus générales du fonctionnement cognitif, affectent le choix d'une stratégie.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Poitiers, France

    Pascale-Elsa Eme

  2. University of Paris 5, France

    Josette Marquer

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  1. Pascale-Elsa Eme
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  2. Josette Marquer
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Eme, PE., Marquer, J. Individual strategies in a spatial task and how they relate to aptitudes. Eur J Psychol Educ 14, 89–108 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173113

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