Mental representation of three-dimensional objects in visual problem solving and recognition.

Subjects inspected sets of flat, separated orthographic projections of surfaces of potential three-dimensional objects. After solving problems based on these orthographic views, subjects discriminated between isometric views of the same objects and drawings of distractor structures. Recognition of the isometrics, which had never been shown during the problem solving phase of the experiment, was excellent. In addition, recognition of isometrics corresponding to problems that had been solved correctly when presented in orthographic form was significantly superior to recognition of isometrics based on problems solved incorrectly. In Experiment 2, conditions were included in which either orthographic or isometric views functioned as problem solving or recognition displays. Only in the case of orthographic problem solving followed by isometric recognition (Experiment 1) was the superiority of recognition for correctly-solved problems over incorrectly-solved problems obtained. The pattern of results suggests that viewers construct mental representations embodying structural information about integrated, three-dimensional objects when asked to reason about flat, disconnected projections.