Mental rotation, perspective taking, and performance profiling.

Abstract

In spatial cognition, we conventionally draw a typological distinction between mental rotation (intrinsic, object movement) versus perspective taking (extrinsic, self movement). This paper re-examines a previous finding which could indicate that fundamentally different cognitive processes are reflected in these tasks. Specifically, performance as a function of rotation magnitude is a linear profile for mental rotation but a notched profile for perspective taking. Experiment 1 conceptually replicates this, finding a task by rotation magnitude interaction with more participants, more trials, and updated statistical controls. Experiment 2 extends the previous analysis to verify that the two performance profiles are genuinely different shapes rather than different effect sizes. Together these help confirm that mental rotation and perspective taking reflect fundamentally different cognitive processes, thus justifying their central focus in the typology of spatial cognition.