Spatial orientation by mental transformation

Author(s): RoskosEwoldsen, B.

Journal/Book: Psychol Res Psychol Forsch. 1999; 62: 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, USA. Springer Verlag. 36-47.

Abstract: Across three experiments, college students read narratives describing two-dimensional horizontal, sagittal, or coronal environments, each with seven objects in surrounding directions (at 45 degrees angles). Then they responded from memory to questions about which objects were in specific directions. The distributions of error rates and response times were compared with distributions predicted by a mental transformation model and two verbal-spatial decoding and retrieval models. The data fit the predictions of a modified mental transformation model (mental transformation plus 180 degrees exception) better than the predictions of either verbal-spatial model. This was true even though the environment was presented narratively rather than perceptually, and it was true for both the vertical planes in addition to the more typical horizontal plane.

Note: Article Carr W, USN, Submarine Med Res Lab, Submarine Base New London, Box 900, Groton,CT 06349 USA

Keyword(s): ROTATED NATURAL OBJECTS; VISUAL IMAGES; MEMORY; REPRESENTATIONS; DISTORTIONS; MODELS; MAPS; IDENTIFICATION; COMPREHENSION; INFORMATION

Zurück | Weiter