Interaction between Mental Rotation and Manual Rotation with and without Motor Planning

Shinkichi Nishihara¹, Fumihito Imai², Akiko Fujiki², Yoshimasa Majima³

¹Hokkaido University Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Sapporo, Japan.
²Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
³Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2015.69106                

Abstract

Two experiments involving mental rotation with two types of manual rotation were run. In Exp 1, participants had to perform the mental rotation task with active hand movement using a rotating device that did not move automatically. In Exp 2, participants had to perform the mental rotation with passive hand movement using an automatically rotating device. The interaction effect between mental and manual rotation was observed only in the former case. These opposing results indicate that it is motor planning associated only with active movement that plays an important role in the interaction between mental and manual rotation and not the proprioceptive/kinesthetic feedback caused by the manual rotation itself.

Keywords

Mental Rotation, Manual Rotation, Motor Planning, Kinesthetic Feedback, Active Hand Movement, Passive Hand Movement

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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