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The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance

Mental rotation of visual images of body parts and abstract shapes can be influenced by simultaneous motor activity. Children in particular have a strong coupling between motor and cognitive processes. We investigated the influence of a rotational hand movement performed by rotating a knob on mental...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jansen, Petra, Kellner, Jan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4503890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26236262
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00984
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author Jansen, Petra
Kellner, Jan
author_facet Jansen, Petra
Kellner, Jan
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description Mental rotation of visual images of body parts and abstract shapes can be influenced by simultaneous motor activity. Children in particular have a strong coupling between motor and cognitive processes. We investigated the influence of a rotational hand movement performed by rotating a knob on mental rotation performance in primary school-age children (N = 83; age range: 7.0–8.3 and 9.0–10.11 years). In addition, we assessed the role of motor ability in this relationship. Boys in the 7- to 8-year-old group were faster when mentally and manually rotating in the same direction than in the opposite direction. For girls and older children this effect was not found. A positive relationship was found between motor ability and accuracy on the mental rotation task: stronger motor ability related to improved mental rotation performance. In both age groups, children with more advanced motor abilities were more likely to adopt motor processes to solve mental rotation tasks if the mental rotation task was primed by a motor task. Our evidence supports the idea that an overlap between motor and visual cognitive processes in children is influenced by motor ability.
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spelling pubmed-45038902015-07-31 The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance Jansen, Petra Kellner, Jan Front Psychol Psychology Mental rotation of visual images of body parts and abstract shapes can be influenced by simultaneous motor activity. Children in particular have a strong coupling between motor and cognitive processes. We investigated the influence of a rotational hand movement performed by rotating a knob on mental rotation performance in primary school-age children (N = 83; age range: 7.0–8.3 and 9.0–10.11 years). In addition, we assessed the role of motor ability in this relationship. Boys in the 7- to 8-year-old group were faster when mentally and manually rotating in the same direction than in the opposite direction. For girls and older children this effect was not found. A positive relationship was found between motor ability and accuracy on the mental rotation task: stronger motor ability related to improved mental rotation performance. In both age groups, children with more advanced motor abilities were more likely to adopt motor processes to solve mental rotation tasks if the mental rotation task was primed by a motor task. Our evidence supports the idea that an overlap between motor and visual cognitive processes in children is influenced by motor ability. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-07-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4503890/ /pubmed/26236262 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00984 Text en Copyright © 2015 Jansen and Kellner. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Jansen, Petra
Kellner, Jan
The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title_full The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title_fullStr The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title_full_unstemmed The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title_short The role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
title_sort role of rotational hand movements and general motor ability in children’s mental rotation performance
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4503890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26236262
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00984
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