scholarly journals Does mental rotation emulate motor processes? An electrophysiological study of objects and body parts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Menéndez Granda ◽  
Giannina Iannotti ◽  
Alexandra Darqué ◽  
Radek Ptak
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Electrophysiological Study ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Spatial Transformation ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
Response Options

Abstract Several arguments suggest that mental rotation (MR) and motor planning may share embodied neural mechanisms, but the overlap between cognitive processes recruited during MR of objects and body parts is not well established. We here used high-density EEG to examine the cognitive similarity between MR of non-manipulable objects (chairs) and bodily stimuli (hands). We selected chairs because they may appear in a recognizable left-right orientation and are not automatically associated with a manual action. Participants had identical response options for both types of stimuli, and they gave responses orally in order to prevent possible interference with motor imagery. MR of hands and chairs generated very similar behavioral responses, time-courses and neural sources of evoked-response potentials (ERPs). ERP segmentation analysis revealed distinct time windows during which differential effects of stimulus type and angular disparity were observed. An early period (90-160 ms) differentiated only between stimulus types, and was associated with occipito-temporal activity. A later period (290-330 ms) revealed strong effects of angular disparity, associated with electrical sources in the right angular gyrus and primary motor/somatosensory cortex. These data suggest that spatial transformation processes and motor planning are recruited simultaneously, supporting the involvement of motor emulation processes in MR.

Neural Underpinnings of Numerical and Spatial Cognition: An fMRI Meta-Analysis of Brain Regions Associated with Symbolic Number, Arithmetic, and Mental Rotation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Hawes ◽  
H Moriah Sokolowski ◽  
Chuka Bosah Ononye ◽  
Daniel Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Number Representation ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
The Right ◽  
Symbolic Number

Where and under what conditions do spatial and numerical skills converge and diverge in the brain? To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain regions associated with basic symbolic number processing, arithmetic, and mental rotation. We used Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to construct quantitative meta-analytic maps synthesizing results from 86 neuroimaging papers (~ 30 studies/cognitive process). All three cognitive processes were found to activate bilateral parietal regions in and around the intraparietal sulcus (IPS); a finding consistent with shared processing accounts. Numerical and arithmetic processing were associated with overlap in the left angular gyrus, whereas mental rotation and arithmetic both showed activity in the middle frontal gyri. These patterns suggest regions of cortex potentially more specialized for symbolic number representation and domain-general mental manipulation, respectively. Additionally, arithmetic was associated with unique activity throughout the fronto-parietal network and mental rotation was associated with unique activity in the right superior parietal lobe. Overall, these results provide new insights into the intersection of numerical and spatial thought in the human brain.

scholarly journals Mental rotation of sequentially presented 3D figures: sex and sex hormones related differences in behavioural and ERP measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramune Griksiene ◽  
Aurina Arnatkeviciute ◽  
Rasa Monciunskaite ◽  
Thomas Koenig ◽  
Osvaldas Ruksenas
Keyword(s):  
Response Time ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Sex Hormones ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Global Field Power ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
3D Objects ◽  
Performance Accuracy ◽  
Related Potentials

AbstractMental rotation of 3D objects demonstrates one of the largest sex differences. We investigated sex and sex hormones-related differences in behaviour and event related potentials (ERP) using a modified Shepard and Metzler task composed of sequentially presented 3D figures in 29 men and 32 women. We demonstrated a significant increase in response time and decrease in both accuracy and positivity of the parietal ERP with increasing angular disparity between the figures. Higher angular disparity evoked an increase of global field power (GFP) from 270 to 460 ms and different activation topographies from 470 to 583 ms with lower parietal, but higher left frontal positivity. Flatter slopes in higher angular disparity condition suggest distinct strategies being implemented depending on the difficulty of the rotation. Men performed the task more accurately than women. Performance accuracy in women tended to be negatively related to estradiol while the response time tended to increase with increasing progesterone. There were no associations with testosterone. Women demonstrated higher GFP and an increased positivity over the parietal scalp area, while men showed higher activation in the left frontal cortex. Together these findings indicate dynamic angular disparity- and sex-related differences in brain activity during mental rotation of 3D figures.

Spatiotemporal Human Brain Activities on Recalling Names of Body Parts

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Yamanoi ◽  
◽  
Yoshinori Tanaka ◽  
Mika Otsuki ◽  
Shin-ichi Ohnishi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Dipole Source ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Current Dipole ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Right

The authors measure electroencephalograms (EEGs) from a subject looking at line drawings of body parts and recalling their names silently. The equivalent current dipole source localization (ECDL) method is applied to the event related potentials (ERPs): summed EEGs. As the dominant language area of the subject is considered to be in the right hemisphere in the previous research study, ECDs are localized to the right middle temporal gyrus: the angular gyrus. Then ECDs are localized to the right fusiform gyrus, the right middle temporal pole (TEP), and the right inferior temporal white matter (TWM). ECDs are located in the ventral pathway. The areas are related to the integrated process of visual recognition of pictures and the recalling of words. Some of these areas are also related to image recognition and word generation.

Estradiol and mental rotation: Relation to dimensionality, difficulty, or angular disparity?

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hampson ◽  
Na'ama Levy-Cooperman ◽  
Jennifer M. Korman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Angular Disparity

Dynamic Changes in the Mental Rotation Network Revealed by Pattern Recognition Analysis of fMRI Data

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 890-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janaina Mourao-Miranda ◽  
Christine Ecker ◽  
Joao R. Sato ◽  
Michael Brammer
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Recognition ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
Spatio Temporal

We investigated the temporal dynamics and changes in connectivity in the mental rotation network through the application of spatio-temporal support vector machines (SVMs). The spatio-temporal SVM [Mourao-Miranda, J., Friston, K. J., et al. (2007). Dynamic discrimination analysis: A spatial-temporal SVM. Neuroimage, 36, 88–99] is a pattern recognition approach that is suitable for investigating dynamic changes in the brain network during a complex mental task. It does not require a model describing each component of the task and the precise shape of the BOLD impulse response. By defining a time window including a cognitive event, one can use spatio-temporal fMRI observations from two cognitive states to train the SVM. During the training, the SVM finds the discriminating pattern between the two states and produces a discriminating weight vector encompassing both voxels and time (i.e., spatio-temporal maps). We showed that by applying spatio-temporal SVM to an event-related mental rotation experiment, it is possible to discriminate between different degrees of angular disparity (0° vs. 20°, 0° vs. 60°, and 0° vs. 100°), and the discrimination accuracy is correlated with the difference in angular disparity between the conditions. For the comparison with highest accuracy (0° vs. 100°), we evaluated how the most discriminating areas (visual regions, parietal regions, supplementary, and premotor areas) change their behavior over time. The frontal premotor regions became highly discriminating earlier than the superior parietal cortex. There seems to be a parcellation of the parietal regions with an earlier discrimination of the inferior parietal lobe in the mental rotation in relation to the superior parietal. The SVM also identified a network of regions that had a decrease in BOLD responses during the 100° condition in relation to the 0° condition (posterior cingulate, frontal, and superior temporal gyrus). This network was also highly discriminating between the two conditions. In addition, we investigated changes in functional connectivity between the most discriminating areas identified by the spatio-temporal SVM. We observed an increase in functional connectivity between almost all areas activated during the 100° condition (bilateral inferior and superior parietal lobe, bilateral premotor area, and SMA) but not between the areas that showed a decrease in BOLD response during the 100° condition.

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

Psychology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 06 (09) ◽  
pp. 1086-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinkichi Nishihara ◽  
Fumihito Imai ◽  
Akiko Fujiki ◽  
Yoshimasa Majima
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Manual Rotation

scholarly journals Effect of Time Constraint in Exploring Spatial Differences With Balanced Allocation of Performance Factors in a Redrawn Mental Rotation Test

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hi-Lian Jeng ◽  
Yi-Lung Lin
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Item Type ◽  
Time Constraint ◽  
Related Field ◽  
Mental Rotation Test ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Rotation Test

To achieve a comprehensive and unbiased measurement, a mental rotation test (MRT) (cube form) was redrawn and administered with influential performance factors, namely, time constraint, item type, angular disparity, and rotation/flipping. Item type, angular disparity, and rotation/flipping were systematically balanced into the items of the redrawn Pentomino-MRT, and two time-constraint conditions were randomly assigned to 813 Grade 4 to 6 primary students when administering the test. Children of these ages are of investigative interest because they are at crucial stages of spatial ability development and are at an age where associated gender differences emerge. The study demonstrates that spatial gender differences can be detected in Grade 4, are more marked in Grade 5, and become stable in Grade 6. The importance of time constraint is acknowledged in how and at what grade gender differences emerge under the conditions of the performance factors investigated. In particular, the performance of girls reminds us to focus on their spatial ability development if later STEM-related field participation is of concern.

scholarly journals Pupillometry as a measure of cognitive load in mental rotation tasks with abstract and embodied figures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bauer ◽  
Leonardo Jost ◽  
Bianca Günther ◽  
Petra Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Pupil Dilation ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
Body Postures ◽  
Time Accuracy ◽  
Accuracy Rates

AbstractWe investigated sex differences in behavioral performance and cognitive load in chronometric mental rotation tasks with abstract and embodied figures. Eighty participants (44 females and 36 males) completed 126 items, which included cube figures, body postures, and human figures, which were all comparable in shape and color. Reaction time, accuracy, and cognitive load, measured by changes in pupil dilation, were analyzed. As a function of angular disparity, participants showed shorter reaction times and higher accuracy rates for embodied stimuli than cube figures. Changes in pupil dilation showed a similar pattern, indicating that mental rotation of embodied figures caused less cognitive load to solve the task. No sex differences appeared in any of the measurements.

The Role of Motor System in Mental Rotation: New Insights from Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 492-502
Author(s):  
Giorgia Cona ◽  
Arianna Casagrande ◽  
Sabrina Lenzoni ◽  
Elena Pegoraro ◽  
Virginia Bozzoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Myotonic Dystrophy ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorder ◽  
Abstract Objects ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Motor Representations ◽  
Sensorimotor Feedback

AbstractObjective:This study explored mental rotation (MR) performance in patients with myotonic dystrophy 1 (DM1), an inherited neuromuscular disorder dominated by muscular symptoms, including muscle weakness and myotonia. The aim of the study was twofold: to gain new insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms of MR and to better clarify the cognitive profile of DM1 patients. To address these aims, we used MR tasks involving kinds of stimuli that varied for the extent to which they emphasized motor simulation and activation of body representations (body parts) versus visuospatial imagery (abstract objects). We hypothesized that, if peripheral sensorimotor feedback system plays a pivotal role in modulating MR performance, then DM1 patients would exhibit more difficulties in mentally rotating hand stimuli than abstract objects.Method:Twenty-four DM1 patients and twenty-four age- and education-matched control subjects were enrolled in the study and were required to perform two computerized MR tasks involving pictures of hands and abstract objects.Results:The analysis of accuracy showed that patients had impaired MR performance when the angular disparities between the stimuli were higher. Notably, as compared to controls, patients showed slower responses when the stimuli were hands, whereas no significant differences when stimuli were objects.Conclusion:The findings are coherent with the embodied cognition view, indicating a tight relation between body- and motor-related processes and MR. They suggest that peripheral, muscular, abnormalities in DM1 lead to alterations in manipulation of motor representations, which in turn affect MR, especially when body parts are to mentally rotate.

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