Scott Johnson: UCLA Department of Psychology

Mental rotation (MR) is the process by which people imagine how an object would look when rotated into a different orientation in space; it may be related to performance on tasks like perspective-taking and navigation. Men typically perform faster and more accurately than women on MR tasks. Known influences on MR performance in adults are both biological (e.g., exposure to testosterone) and experiential (e.g., practice at spatial tasks), raising vital questions about the developmental origins of MR. Until recently, developmental studies were limited to children 4 years and older. This talk will present evidence that sex differences in MR performance are present far earlier, and can be observed in preverbal infants. I will also discuss the influence of task demands on MR in infants, and the possible biological and environmental contributions to performance that may shed light on the intersection of visual/motor skills and mental imagery of 3D objects early in life.
http://www.bec.ucla.edu/MooreJohnson2008.pdf