A novel approach to analyzing all trials in chronometric mental rotation and description of a flexible extended library of stimuli

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mirrored stimuli in chronometric mental rotation tests cannot be rotated into congruence and are typically discarded from analysis. We present a novel design using three figures such that congruence is achieved for all trials. For design construction, we consider the geometrical properties of rotation and mirroring. We have experimentally tested the approach with forty-one German sport students. Results analyzed with linear mixed modeling show small differences but are comparable to the classical two-figure design. Based on our findings we suggest our new layout for future chronometric mental rotation. This will improve analysis of accuracies while increasing power. Moreover, we present a database of cube figures and code for flexible generation of stimuli, which we make available on GitHub at https://github.com/LeonardoJost/MRlibrary.