title: The impact of ageing and gender on visual mental imagery processes: A study of performance on tasks from the Complete Visual Mental Imagery Battery (CVMIB).
abstract: In this study we aim to evaluate the impact of ageing and gender on different visual mental imagery processes. Two hundred and fifty-one participants (130 women and 121 men; age range = 18-77 years) were given an extensive neuropsychological battery including tasks probing the generation, maintenance, inspection, and transformation of visual mental images (Complete Visual Mental Imagery Battery, CVMIB). Our results show that all mental imagery processes with the exception of the maintenance are affected by ageing, suggesting that other deficits, such as working memory deficits, could account for this effect. However, the analysis of the transformation process, investigated in terms of mental rotation and mental folding skills, shows a steeper decline in mental rotation, suggesting that age could affect rigid transformations of objects and spare non-rigid transformations. Our study also adds to previous ones in showing gender differences favoring men across the lifespan in the transformation process, and, interestingly, it shows a steeper decline in men than in women in inspecting mental images, which could partially account for the mixed results about the effect of ageing on this specific process. We also discuss the possibility to introduce the CVMIB in clinical assessment in the context of theoretical models of mental imagery.
authors.affiliation: a School of Life & Health Sciences , Aston University , Birmingham , UK.|b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.affiliation: b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.|c Life, Health and Environmental Science Department , University of L'Aquila , L'Aquila , Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piccardi
authors.affiliation: d Psychology Department , Bologna University , Bologna , Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nori
authors.affiliation: d Psychology Department , Bologna University , Bologna , Italy.
authors.forename: Fiorella
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giusberti
authors.affiliation: b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.|e Psychology Department , Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guariglia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mental imagery; Mental rotation; Normal ageing; Sex differences; Visuospatial skills