Confusing rotation-like operations in space, mind and brain.
The research on mental rotation is now extensive, and diverse in its approach and level. The phenomenon was originally described in terms of perceptual performance, and has been well replicated in that sense. That human observers can apparently turn images about axes of rotation or reflection, and correctly construct identifications of objects whose images have been transformed in a virtual mental space, is uncontested but in some ways unexplained. The phenomenon raises fundamental questions about the nature of mathematical assumptions within psychological theory, and suggests a need for the reconciliation of phenomenological, neuropsychological and mathematical descriptions within one compatible framework. It is concluded that what actually happens is not rotation in the geometrical sense but a serial operation that may be confused with rotation, and may sometimes yield the same terminal result. A bibliography of major sources on the experimental and mathematical analyses of the mental rotation of images of 2-d and 3-d figures has been compiled.
Division of Psychology, School of Life Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003867:Depth Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009903:Optical Illusions / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception