Mental rotation performance in aphantasia
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Our ability to form visual images within our mind is known as visual mental imagery and enables us to draw on internal representations in the absence of external stimuli. Aphantasia, a recent condition to gain attention within the field of visual neuroscience, describes the experience of individuals who lack voluntary visual mental imagery. The majority of research in this area has stemmed from subjective reports of visual imagery, through questionnaires such as the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). More recently, a few studies have investigated impairments in cognitive function; however, these studies are limited in terms of the low sample size of aphantasic individuals used within the studies. As yet, no study has explored mental rotation (MR) performance in congenital aphantasics. Using the classic Shepard and Metzler MR paradigm, here we examine MR performance in 20 individuals with congenital aphantasia, as well as measuring self-reported visual object and spatial imagery through questionnaires (VVIQ, Spontaneous Use of Imagery Scale and Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire). We find that aphantasic participants self-report higher scores for visual spatial imagery compared to object imagery scores, which were below average of the object imagery scores reported by controls. Furthermore, in the MR test, aphantasic individuals took longer to rotate the stimuli compared to controls, and this time increased in line with the increased level of difficulty of rotation. Despite aphantasics taking longer to mentally rotate stimuli compared to controls, aphantasic participants were more accurate then control participants across all levels of difficulty. Our results indicate that aphantasics use a different strategy when performing the MR task, leading to slower reaction times but higher accuracy. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018Keywords:
Mental Rotation
Mental Rotation
Functional Imaging
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A growing number of studies show that visual mental imagery recruits the same brain areas as visual perception. Although the necessity of hV5/MT+ for motion perception has been revealed by means of TMS, its relevance for motion imagery remains unclear. We induced a direction-selective adaptation in hV5/MT+ by means of an MAE while subjects performed a mental rotation task that elicits imagined motion. We concurrently measured behavioral performance and neural activity with fMRI, enabling us to directly assess the effect of a perturbation of hV5/MT+ on other cortical areas involved in the mental rotation task. The activity in hV5/MT+ increased as more mental rotation was required, and the perturbation of hV5/MT+ affected behavioral performance as well as the neural activity in this area. Moreover, several regions in the posterior parietal cortex were also affected by this perturbation. Our results show that hV5/MT+ is required for imagined visual motion and engages in an interaction with parietal cortex during this cognitive process.
Mental Rotation
Parietal lobe
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Mental Rotation
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Mental rotation is the ability to mentally represent the hypothetical view of an object rotated away from its actual viewpoint. It can be experimentally tested by a paradigm in which participants judge whether two stimuli are identical or not. The two stimuli are rotated and the size of angle between the two determines how long participants will take to come to a decision. This suggests that mental rotation is a mental process analogous to real rotation. This finding has been of importance for mental imagery research more broadly because (a) it illustrated that, unlike in behavioristic thinking, it is possible to research mental processes in a scientific way, and (b) because it was the foundation of many experiments supporting the similarities between mental imagery and perception, both in terms of brain activation and in terms of computational models.
Mental Rotation
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Evidence for associations between spatial skills and mathematics has led to the argument that spatial visualisation plays a role in mathematical calculation. However, there is no single accepted definition of what spatial visualisation encompasses. Here, we investigated spatial visualisation in the context of a mental imagery framework. We applied a component model of mental imagery, involving Image Generation, Image Maintenance, Image Transformation (measured here using Mental Rotation) and Image Scanning, to examine how each component predicted mathematical calculation ability in primary school children (N=92, age 6-11 years). We found that, after age, only Mental Rotation significantly predicted mathematical calculation. Our findings advance theoretical understanding by demonstrating that spatial visualisation definitions, applied to mathematics, should be refined to focus on Image Transformation. This also highlights the practical implication that Image Transformation strategies are promising targets for future intervention work, rather than broad visualisation strategies.
Mental Rotation
Spatial Ability
Argument (complex analysis)
Component (thermodynamics)
Creative visualization
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Our ability to form visual images within our mind is known as visual mental imagery and enables us to draw on internal representations in the absence of external stimuli. Aphantasia, a recent condition to gain attention within the field of visual neuroscience, describes the experience of individuals who lack voluntary visual mental imagery. The majority of research in this area has stemmed from subjective reports of visual imagery, through questionnaires such as the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). More recently, a few studies have investigated impairments in cognitive function; however, these studies are limited in terms of the low sample size of aphantasic individuals used within the studies. As yet, no study has explored mental rotation (MR) performance in congenital aphantasics. Using the classic Shepard and Metzler MR paradigm, here we examine MR performance in 20 individuals with congenital aphantasia, as well as measuring self-reported visual object and spatial imagery through questionnaires (VVIQ, Spontaneous Use of Imagery Scale and Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire). We find that aphantasic participants self-report higher scores for visual spatial imagery compared to object imagery scores, which were below average of the object imagery scores reported by controls. Furthermore, in the MR test, aphantasic individuals took longer to rotate the stimuli compared to controls, and this time increased in line with the increased level of difficulty of rotation. Despite aphantasics taking longer to mentally rotate stimuli compared to controls, aphantasic participants were more accurate then control participants across all levels of difficulty. Our results indicate that aphantasics use a different strategy when performing the MR task, leading to slower reaction times but higher accuracy. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018
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To investigate the format of mental images and the penetrability of mental imagery performance to top-down influences in the form of gravity information, children (4-, 6-, 8- and 10-year-olds) and adults (N = 112) performed mental rotation tasks. A linear increase in response time with rotation angle emerged at 6-years, suggesting that spatial properties are represented in children’s mental images. Moreover, 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds or adults, took longer to respond to rotated stimuli pairs when gravity information was incongruent with the direction of rotation rather than congruent. Overall, findings suggest that in contrast to adults’, 6- to 10-year-olds’ mental rotation performance was penetrated by top-down information. This research (a) provides insight into the format of young children’s mental images and (b) shows that children’s mental rotation performance is penetrable by top-down influences.
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Abstract Aim To investigate the relationship between mental imagery and specific language impairment ( SLI ) and explore the assumption that children with SLI are less able to generate mental images and/or convert them, when compared to typical development ( TD ) children of the same age. Methods Twenty‐four children, aged six to eight, took part in two tests to see how well they generated and rotated mental images. The participants were 12 SLI children (six boys and six girls) and 12 TD children (six boys and six girls), matched by age and gender. Results The statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups when it came to generating mental imagery. However, there were no significant differences with regard to rotating mental imagery. Conclusion The results suggest imagery deficit in language‐impaired children is not caused by mental rotation, but by other aspects of image processing, such as generation, maintenance and interpretation of visual images.
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Specific Language Impairment
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Mental Rotation
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The aim of this study was to examine the influence of gender and age on spatial imagery and image rotation abilities. A total of 217 participants with ages ranging from 10, 15, and 20 years, corresponding to 69 primary students, 64 Compulsory Secondary Education students (CSE) students, and 84 undergraduates, were administered two tests, one measuring spatial imagery ability and the other the ability to rotate mental images. The results showed significant differences between males and females in image rotation but not in spatial imagery. Significant differences were observed between all age groups in spatial imagery ability and between CSE students and undergraduates in the ability to rotate images. Spatial imagery and image rotation abilities increased with age. No interaction was found between both variables. The results agree with recent studies and are discussed in relation to lines of research.
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Spatial Ability
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