Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9660, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2018 Jun;25(3):1212-1219. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1347-z.
Spatial ability tests are often interpreted as measuring facility with imagined spatial transformations of objects. But some spatial ability tests can be solved by analytic strategies as well as imagery transformation strategies. In the present study, participants gave verbal protocols while completing items on the Vandenberg and Kuse (Perceptual & Motor Skills, 4, 599-604, 1978) mental rotation test, and/or reported the strategies they had used on the test. Most participants used both imagery transformation and analytic strategies (i.e., feature-based, orientation-independent strategies) to solve the test items. Use of one analytic strategy, the global-shape strategy, was positively correlated with accuracy. Specifically, some of the most successful students used this strategy to eliminate answer choices, reducing the need for mental imagery. Men outperformed women, as is typical on this test, and were more likely than women to use the global-shape strategy, in particular, and more holistic strategies, in general. These results argue against the mental rotation test as a measure of spatial imagery alone and suggest that the ability to discover and use more efficient analytic strategies may be an important additional component of what this test measures.
空间能力测试通常被解释为衡量物体想象空间变换的能力。但是，一些空间能力测试也可以通过分析策略以及意象转换策略来解决。在本研究中，参与者在完成 Vandenberg 和 Kuse（感知与运动技能，4，599-604，1978）心理旋转测试的项目时，提供了口头报告，并报告了他们在测试中使用的策略。大多数参与者都使用了意象转换和分析策略（即基于特征的、不依赖于方向的策略）来解决测试项目。使用一种分析策略，即全局形状策略，与准确性呈正相关。具体来说，一些最成功的学生使用这种策略来消除答案选择，减少对心理意象的需求。男性的表现优于女性，这在该测试中很常见，而且男性比女性更有可能使用全局形状策略，尤其是更整体的策略。这些结果表明，心理旋转测试不仅仅是衡量空间意象的一种方法，并且表明发现和使用更有效的分析策略的能力可能是该测试衡量的一个重要的附加组成部分。
