Effects of orientation and meaning on mental rotation

Author

Peter D. Elgin, Loras College
Susan T. Davis, Loras College

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

5

Number

1

Page Numbers

pages 1-6

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

1997

Abstract

Reading is a complex ability, for the most part, and performed automatically, especially when the visual stimulus is upright. The present study examined the contribution of mental rotation to reading; participants were timed as they read lists of consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams (CVCs) of varying orientations and meaning. An ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between orientation and meaning, F(3,126)=8.41, MSE=8238 77.99. CVCs misoriented by 180 required the longest response time in the low-meaning condition. However, in the high-meaning condition, CVCs misoriented by 270 ° required a longer response time than those misoriented by 180 o. These paradoxical results may be due to biases produced by previously viewed CVC lists. For lists misoriented by 270 °, participants appeared to rotate the CVCs through a longer (counterclockwise) rather than a shorter clockwise distance in order to read them.

Subject

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

6 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

BF1 .M63 v. 5 no. 1 1997

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Recommended Citation

Elgin, Peter D. and Davis, Susan T. (1997) "Effects of orientation and meaning on mental rotation," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol5/iss1/2