Wright Rebecca, Thompson William L, Ganis Giorgio, Newcombe Nora S, Kosslyn Stephen M
Oxford University Oxford, England.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2008 Aug;15(4):763-71. doi: 10.3758/pbr.15.4.763.
Spatial transformation skills are an essential aspect of cognitive ability. These skills can be improved by practice, but such improvement has usually been specific to tasks and stimuli. The present study investigated whether intensive long-term practice leads to change that transcends stimulus and task parameters. Thirty-one participants (14 male, 17 female) were tested on three cognitive tasks: a computerized version of the Shepard-Metzler (1971) mental rotation task (MRT), a mental paper-folding task (MPFT), and a verbal analogies task (VAT). Each individual then participated in daily practice sessions with the MRT or the MPFT over 21 days. Postpractice comparisons revealed transfer of practice gains to novel stimuli for the practiced task, as well as transfer to the other, nonpracticed spatial task. Thus, practice effects were process based, not instance based. Improvement in the nonpracticed spatial task was greater than that in the VAT; thus, improvement was not merely due to greater ease with computerized testing.
空间转换技能是认知能力的一个重要方面。这些技能可以通过练习得到提高，但这种提高通常只针对特定的任务和刺激。本研究调查了长期密集练习是否会带来超越刺激和任务参数的变化。31名参与者（14名男性，17名女性）接受了三项认知任务测试：计算机化的谢泼德-梅茨勒（1971）心理旋转任务（MRT）、心理折纸任务（MPFT）和言语类比任务（VAT）。然后，每个人在21天内每天参与MRT或MPFT的练习。练习后的比较显示，练习所获得的成果不仅转移到了练习任务的新刺激上，还转移到了另一个未练习的空间任务上。因此，练习效果是基于过程的，而非基于实例。未练习的空间任务的改善程度大于VAT的改善程度；因此，改善不仅仅是因为计算机化测试带来了更大的便利。
