Meneghetti Chiara, Borella Erika, Pazzaglia Francesca
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padua, Italy.
Psychol Res. 2016 Jan;80(1):113-27. doi: 10.1007/s00426-014-0644-7. Epub 2015 Jan 10.
One of the aims of research in spatial cognition is to examine whether spatial skills can be enhanced. The goal of the present study was thus to assess the benefit and maintenance effects of mental rotation training in young adults. Forty-eight females took part in the study: 16 were randomly assigned to receive the mental rotation training (based on comparing pairs of 2D or 3D objects and rotation games), 16 served as active controls (performing parallel non-spatial activities), and 16 as passive controls. Transfer effects to both untrained spatial tasks (testing both object rotation and perspective taking) and visual and verbal tasks were examined. Across the training sessions, the group given mental rotation training revealed benefits in the time it took to make judgments when comparing 3D and 2D objects, but their mental rotation speed did not improve. When compared with the other groups, the mental rotation training group did show transfer effects, however, in tasks other than those practiced (i.e., in object rotation and perspective-taking tasks), and these benefits persisted after 1 month. The training had no effect on visual or verbal tasks. These findings are discussed from the spatial cognition standpoint and with reference to the (rotation) training literature.
空间认知研究的目标之一是检验空间技能是否能够得到提升。因此，本研究的目的是评估心理旋转训练对年轻人的益处及持续影响。48名女性参与了该研究：16人被随机分配接受心理旋转训练（基于比较二维或三维物体对以及旋转游戏），16人作为主动对照组（进行平行的非空间活动），16人作为被动对照组。研究考察了对未训练的空间任务（测试物体旋转和视角转换）以及视觉和语言任务的迁移效应。在整个训练过程中，接受心理旋转训练的组在比较三维和二维物体时做出判断所需的时间上显示出益处，但其心理旋转速度并未提高。然而，与其他组相比，心理旋转训练组在未训练的任务（即物体旋转和视角转换任务）中确实表现出迁移效应，并且这些益处在1个月后仍然存在。该训练对视觉或语言任务没有影响。本文从空间认知的角度并参考（旋转）训练文献对这些发现进行了讨论。
