Mental Rotation Report free essay sample

Introduction The purpose of this experiment was to confirm the theory that we create picturelike representation of perceived visual stimuli, and we can also mentally rotate the representation to a known â€Å"upright† position. The reaction time increases linearly according to the angle of the rotation, regardless of their complexity (Cooper, 1975). In some circumstances, we snap the perceived visual stimuli and create a picturelike image in head.The process of mentally rotating the image inevitably takes time, and the length of the reaction time indicates how much effort we put in it. That means the reaction time represents the mental effort, and vice versa. It’s reasonable that as the angle of rotation increases, the more effort will be needed which results in linear increase in reaction time. We mentally rotate the image in head as a whole just like physically rotating exist pictures, the complexity of the image won’t impact the reaction time within some certain degree. We will write a custom essay sample on Mental Rotation Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When the image is complex enough (such as 3-D images), the time we need to â€Å"snap and copy† it increases. Also during the rotation, more reaction time will be needed because the time we spend verifying the correctness of the image increases (Shepard Metzler, 1988). In this experiment, we use 3-D images to confirm the hypothesis of Cooper’s theory that as the angle of rotation increases, the reaction time linearly increases accordingly. Method Participants Participants included twenty-eight undergraduate students in Cognitive Psychology Course. Mental Rotation TaskThe mental rotation task consisted of at least 70 trials presented on the computer monitor (Francis, Neath, VanHorn, 2008, pp. 105-107). On each trial, participants saw two 3-D block shapes, one to the left and one to the right. Each block shape is within a circle. The two shapes were either identical, or mirror-reversed. One shape was also rotated around the vertical axis with either degree of angle (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120o). Participants were asked to determine if the two shapes were the same (pressing / key) or mirror-reversed (pressing Z key). The mistaken trials would be repeated, only reaction time of the correct trials was used. Procedure All of the participants consented to the experiment and followed the instructions to complete the mental rotation task which took approximately 30 minutes to complete. Results This study used a 7 (angles of rotation: 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120o) by 2 (identical, mirror-reversed) within-subject design. The independent variable was the angle of rotation of 3-D block shape. The dependent variable was the reaction time in milliseconds.The reaction time is depicted below. Figure 1. Reaction time in milliseconds [pic] A within-subjects analysis of variance conducted on the participants’ reaction time revealed the main effect of angle of rotation, F(6,162) = 18. 05 (? p2 = 0. 40, p . 001). It’s apparent that the reaction time linearly increased as the angle of rotation increased. Discussion The result confirmed the hypothesis of Cooper’s theory. The participants’ reaction time linearly increased according to the angles of rotation. Given the knowledge that reaction time indicates the mental effort put in rotation, and vice versa, as we need more effort to rotate a greater angle, the reaction time also increases. When we create a 3-D representation of visual stimuli, we spend more time than 2-D representation because more features should be verified, so does mentally rotate a 3-D representation. As we mentally rotate the 3-D image just like physically rotating it, we automatically check the feedbacks if the image or rotation is correct, which leads up to more effort and reaction time.According to this experiment, the time of creating a 3-D representation was about 1483. 6 ms, compared to 754 ms when creating a 2-D representation. Also the time needed to rotate each degree of angle of a 3-D representation (15. 004 ms) was more than 2-D representation (2. 16 ms). According to this experiment, we conclude that mental rotation needs mental effort, which is revealed by reaction time. Mental rotation is alike physical rotation, the effort or reaction time correlates with the angle of rotation. As the angle increases, the reaction time increases linearly.