Mental rotation is a cognitive operation during which a mental image is formed and rotated into a different orientation in space. Such process usually requires cognitive manipulation and spatial transformation of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Interestingly, it may also involve the rotation of body parts or shapes with embodiment effects. Two mental rotation paradigms are usually distinguished: the perspective tasks require to determine how an object would appear from a different viewpoint, while in comparison tasks, changes are not related to the individual, but to the object itself. The aim is, therefore, to determine whether pairs of visual stimuli, presented from two different angles, are identical or mirror images. Response time and accuracy are the most frequent measures of performance.
Theoretical Background
While mental rotation paradigms can be traced back to the late 1960s, the most...
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Authors and Affiliations
Center of Research and Innovation in Sport, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 – University of Lyon, Laboratory of the Mental, Motor and Material Performance, 27-29 Bd du 11 Novembre 1918, Villeurbanne, 69622, France
Dr. Aymeric Guillot, Prof. Nady Hoyek & Prof. Christian Collet
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- Dr. Aymeric Guillot
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- Prof. Nady Hoyek
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- Prof. Christian Collet
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Correspondence to Aymeric Guillot .
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Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Education, University of Freiburg, 79085, Freiburg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Norbert M. Seel
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Guillot, A., Hoyek, N., Collet, C. (2012). Mental Rotation and Functional Learning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. //doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_493