Wang Lu, Bolin Jocelyn, Lu Zhenqiu, Carr Martha
Department of Educational Psychology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, United States.
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2018 Dec 14;9:2302. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02302. eCollection 2018.
This study investigates the relationships among EF, VSWM, VWM, and spatial ability (mental rotation) at the construct level through testing a series of mediation models. A second objective of the study is to investigate whether the mediation relationship changes depending on the secondary demand of the tests used to measure EF. Covariates age and gender were controlled for in theses analyses. The results showed that when the Tower test, an EF test with a spatial secondary demand, was used to represent EF, VSWM significantly mediated the relationship between EF and mental rotation. However, when the composite inhibition and switching scores from the Color-Interference Test, an EF test with a verbal secondary demand, was used to represent EF, VSWM no longer significantly mediated the relationship between EF and mental rotation. This pattern of findings suggests that the test effect is real. Therefore, a grain of salt should be taken when interpreting prior findings concerning the relationship between EF and VSWM, when EF was measured using a variety of instruments, some of which have a spatial secondary demand, whereas others do not. Regarding VWM as a mediator, it was not found to be significantly mediating the relationship between EF and mental rotation, regardless of whether the Tower test or the Color-Interference Test was used to measure EF. A third objective of the study is to investigate the relative importance of EF, VSWM, and VWM in predicting mental rotation via dominance analysis. The results showed that VSWM is more important than VWM in explaining individual differences in mental rotation; the Tower test is more important than the Color-Interference Test in explaining individual differences in mental rotation. These findings again suggest that cautions need to be taken when interpreting prior findings that showed EF is highly involved in spatial ability, as test effect is real and may at least be partially be responsible for the linkage between the two constructs.
本研究通过测试一系列中介模型，在结构层面探究了执行功能（EF）、视觉空间工作记忆（VSWM）、工作记忆（VWM）和空间能力（心理旋转）之间的关系。该研究的第二个目标是调查中介关系是否会因用于测量执行功能的测试的次要需求而发生变化。在这些分析中控制了协变量年龄和性别。结果表明，当使用具有空间次要需求的执行功能测试——塔楼测试来代表执行功能时，视觉空间工作记忆显著中介了执行功能与心理旋转之间的关系。然而，当使用具有言语次要需求的执行功能测试——颜色干扰测试的综合抑制和转换分数来代表执行功能时，视觉空间工作记忆不再显著中介执行功能与心理旋转之间的关系。这种研究结果模式表明测试效应是真实存在的。因此，在解释先前关于执行功能与视觉空间工作记忆之间关系的研究结果时应持谨慎态度，因为在测量执行功能时使用了多种工具，其中一些具有空间次要需求，而另一些则没有。将工作记忆视为中介变量时，无论使用塔楼测试还是颜色干扰测试来测量执行功能，均未发现其显著中介执行功能与心理旋转之间的关系。该研究的第三个目标是通过优势分析探究执行功能、视觉空间工作记忆和工作记忆在预测心理旋转方面的相对重要性。结果表明，在解释心理旋转的个体差异方面，视觉空间工作记忆比工作记忆更重要；在解释心理旋转的个体差异方面，塔楼测试比颜色干扰测试更重要。这些研究结果再次表明，在解释先前显示执行功能高度参与空间能力的研究结果时需要谨慎，因为测试效应是真实存在的，并且可能至少部分地导致了这两个结构之间的联系。
