Mental Rotation and Motor Learning - Research Proposal Example

Mental Rotation and Motor Learning Student’s Name Institution Abstract: A lot of studies support the theory that mental image transformations to a minimal context are aided by the motor process, even in the instance of abstract object image as oppose to parts of the body. For instance rotation can be directed the procedure that also prime to be able to view the results of a particular motor action according to (Cooper et al. 2005). This hypothesis is directly tested by way of dual-task model whereby the participants conduct the Cooper-Shepard task for mental rotation as performing an unobserved motor rotation at a speed which was previously learnt and at a particular direction. Four outcomes agree with the hypothesis that mental rotation depends on the processes of motor. The first one being that the motor rotation which is attuned to the mental rotation ends up in few errors and faster times within the task of the imagery as oppose to when the two rotations are not attuned. The second elements is that the degrees (angles) at which the participants do their mental image rotations, and the degree or the angle at which the participants rotate the handle of a joystick are correlated, and this is possible when the directions for the 2 rotations are attuned. The last item is that motor rotation adjusts a mental rotation which is typical V-shaped time response function as (Cooper et al. 2005) indicated. Aim: 1. To examine the differences among individuals in visual spatial capacity through the application of mental rotation task. 2. To examine the motor performance and learning correlation Introduction: The objective of the report is testing the hypothesis that a couple of the similar processes are applied in motor actions and mental rotations. The images of objects which are abstract are used, and have no apparent relation with the hands or other parts of the body. Therefore, if transformation of visual images, production and control of movements which are physical do as a matter fact share some mechanisms, subsequently rotations of mental and motor should interfere with one another. In this experiment, the objects (or participants) carry out mental rotation task in a process same as the Shepard, while concurrently conducting a physical rotation within a pragmatically controlled movement of an earlier learnt angular speed. The hypothesis we outlined leads the team to envisage deduction between the two rotations that are dynamically detailed. In particular, we anticipate a deduction between motor and image that relies on the extent direction, joint duration and their speed. Through motor speed control and monitoring the observed trajectories of the motor, a detailed deduction between the characteristics of the two rotations can be probed as observed by (Cooper et al. 2005). Nonetheless, it cannot be predicted that each action of the motor will deduce with the mental rotation. In fact, passive or automatic movements do not need the planning of the motor and subsequently depend separately on the motor, premotor and parietal areas. Method Participants 12 participants volunteered to take part in the study; their ages ranged from 21 to 29 years. They included six men and six females; the recruitment process involved the use of advertisements which were located within the university. Each participant was paid 50FF/h. No one among all the participants has ever had any mental imagery laboratory experience. The participants were on random basis placed in one of the two groupings, on constrain that every group should have 3 men and 3 females. Besides, two participants whose imagery task performance was at chance were excluded and their results discarded. Apparatus The apparatus for the experiment composed of three parts, joystick which is motor controlled, a computer screen and foot operated two switches. The screen of the computer was positioned parallel to the participants’ frontal lane, approximately 55 cm from the subject and the eye level. The distances were estimates since the participants were given the freedom to move their chair position and height. The head of the participant was positioned against a visual tunnel which gives way to the screen, they was so to only allow the screen to be visualized in the course of the trials. The motor-controlled joystick’s pivot was 40 centimeters under the screen of the computer and 55 centimeters away from the participant. The joystick shaft was 15 centimeters long. The tip was to be rotated around a 12 cm circle which is parallel to the frontal view of the participant (for example; on a parallel plane to the screen of the computer. The joystick position was recorder at 75Hz rate. The joystick movement was passively damped. The rotation of the joystick was freed at its shaft. The feet of the participant relaxed on the 2 switches. The Stimuli A pact of four 2D small figures were organized, as shown in figure 1 within their canonical orientations, all the figures were established from the reflections and rotations of a single primary figure. All the figures were white solid on a background which was black, projecting a visual angle of approximately three degrees. The computer screen resolution was about 0.4mm/pixel and spanning stimuli of 90.60 pixels. A different set of yellow solid arrows (of 70 pixels long, projecting 3 degrees visual angle) were organized that were directed in each of the probable orientations linked to the figures. Figure 1 the mental rotation task stimuli (canonical orientations) Procedure At every trail the participant carried out 2 tasks concurrently, the motor and the imagery tasks. The task for the imagery was the same as the one for Cooper 1973 mental rotation 2D task. The procedure comprised of 3 phases, as indicated in figure 2. In the course of phase 1, (which took 5 seconds); the participant looked the figure of the stimulus alongside an arrow directed to it from the screen center as outlined by (Bookheimer, et al. 2006). . Within the phase 1, at all time the figure was pivoted at the screen top, within a canonical orientation as indicated in Figure 1; that orientation will be termed as 0 degrees, and the positive angles occurring clockwise. At phase II (that took 1.5 s) the arrow and the figure vanished in their place were given an arrow which was directed from the screen center to a separate spot on the screen, the v angle from 12 noon o’clock (for instance v=135◦). This angle presumed one of the following 8 values; (0◦; +/-45◦, +/-90 ◦, 135◦ and 180◦. ( if v=0◦, the phase 2 arrow coincides with phase 1 arrow). At phase 3, the phase II arrow kept on the screen as the figure come back again on the screen spot which the arrow indicated. The participants task was to determine as accurately and quickly as they could, whether the presented figures at the phase III was similar to the one in phase I (but not for the rotation purposes) or if it were a mirror image of the said figure, when identical, the participants were to push the foot-switch on the right and if the response was otherwise the participant were to press the foot switch on the left. The stimuli sequence of the task of the mental rotation The period between the phase III onset and the participants’ response will be termed as the response time (RT). The instructions of the participant particularly indicated the mental rotation as the strategy, and requested then to apply in Phase II 1.5s “to start to imagine” how the figure will appear like by the time it appears again from the a particular point of orientation. Results Three kinds of date was obtained the (the RTs) in the task of imagery (on a resolution temporal of 13ms), the task of imagery response and the trajectories of the motor (the rates of the error), as a result of the computer error, estimated at 1.5% of data for imagery were lost and also 5% of the data for the motor trajectory. The data for four figures were averaged and 2 reflection scenario (same or reflected) and they are represented as follows. Figure 3 Response Time for the task of mental rotation being the function of q angle, for the various condition of manual rotation (clockwise and counter clock-wise) and also for the condition of non-motor. ) t Discussion The results of the experiment established the discussed effects, and the entire outcome supports the theory of a dynamical tight link between mental and motor rotations. The motor rotation which is attuned with mental rotation leads in few errors and faster times in the task of imagery as oppose to when the two rotations are not compatible (Bookheimer, et al. 2006). The other item is that the angle at which the participants do their mental image rotation and the angle at which the handle of the joystick is rotated are correlated, but just when the orientations of the 2 rotations are attuned. The other item is that the typical inverted V shape is modified by the motor rotation Response Time function, which supports the orientation of the motor rotation and in certain situations even, moves the spot minimal of the curve towards to point of motor rotation. The other aspect is that the effect preceding is responsive not just to the motor rotation direction, but to the speed of the motor as well. The motor rotation speed change can in the same way speed up or slow down the metal rotation; participants who physically rotated in the phase II correspondingly mentally rotated at a slow pace and vice versa. According to (Duhamel, et al. 2009), the relations between the mental and motor rotations speeds endures for the two sessions, while the relations between the two rotations direction (what has been referred to as compatibility in this study), although vigorous in session I, they all vanished in session II. When the two rotations are coupled initially, their passive decoupling with application requires to be comprehended. It has been established that mental rotation is robust in application and the general trend to lowering Response Time and errors obtained in this experiment is no exception. Certainly, there is more than one approach the comparison of the two images at varied mental rotations and orientations. In fact, many participants spontaneously indicated that during the process of the study they moved from mental rotation, a an approach which they were told to apply to landmark, or strategy of memory base, which to review on the general improvement in the response time were highly effective. A number of these strategies might engage mental processes which are less coupled or completely not coupled to the motor mechanisms. For example, given the very few number of stimuli within this study, a memorization which is partial may not be excluded. Conclusion In summary, the results obtained give a strong support that motor processes are applied even when abstract participants are mentally rotated as (Duhamel et al. 2009) found out. The results are as predicted when the mental rotation is generated, at least passively, in juxtaposition with the motor mechanisms. Therefore we can conclude that the experiment was successful. References: 1. Andersen, R.A., Snyder, L.H., Bradley, D.C., Xing, J., (2007). Multimodal representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex and its use in planning movements. Annual Review of Neuroscience 20, 303–320. 2. Bookheimer, S.Y., Rosen, B.R., Belliveau, J.W., (2006). Changes in cortical activity during mentalrotation. A mapping study using functional MRI. Brain 119, 89–100. 3. Cooper, L.A., Shepard, R.N., (2003). Chronometric studies of the rotation of mental images. In: Chase,W.G. (Ed.), Visual Information Processing. Academic Press, New York. 4. Cooper, L.A., Shepard, R.N., (2005). Mental transformations in the identification of left and right hands.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1, 48–56.Deiber, M.P., 5. Passingham, R.E., Colebatch, J.G., Friston, K.J., Nixon, P.D., Frackoviak, R.R.J., (2009). Cortical areas and the selection of movement: a study with positron emission tomography. Experimental BrainResearch 84, 393–402. 6. Duhamel, J.-R., Colby, C.L., Goldberg, M.E., (2009). The updating of the representation of visual space inparietal cortex by intended eye movements. Science 255, 90–92. 7. Georgopoulos, A.P., Lurito, J.T., Petrides, M., Schwartz, A.B., Massey, J.T., 2009. Mental rotation of theneuronal population vector. Science 243, 234–236. 8. Georgopoulos, A.P., Massey, J.T., (2007). Cognitive spatial-motor processes. 1. The making of movementsat various angles from a stimulus direction. Experimental Brain Research 65, 361–370. 9. Held, R., Hein, A. (2008). Adaptation of disarranged hand-eye coordination contingent upon re-afferent stimulation.Perceptual Motor Skills 8, 87–90. 10. Hietanen, J.K., Perrett, D.I., (2006). Motion sensitive cells in the macaque superior temporal polysensoryarea: response discrimination between self-generated and externally generated pattern motion. BehaviouralBrain Research 76, 155–167. 11. Hinton, G.E., Parsons, L.M., (2008). Scene-based and viewer-centered representations for comparingshapes. Cognition 30, 1–35 12. Martini, F. and Nath, L. (2009). Fundamentals of Anatomy and Psysiology. San Francisco, Pearson. 13. Better Health Channel (2011). http://www.patienthealthinternational.com/hypertension/lecturearticles /accessed 2. May 2011. Read More

Apparatus The apparatus for the experiment composed of three parts, joystick which is motor controlled, a computer screen and foot operated two switches. The screen of the computer was positioned parallel to the participants’ frontal lane, approximately 55 cm from the subject and the eye level. The distances were estimates since the participants were given the freedom to move their chair position and height. The head of the participant was positioned against a visual tunnel which gives way to the screen, they was so to only allow the screen to be visualized in the course of the trials.

The motor-controlled joystick’s pivot was 40 centimeters under the screen of the computer and 55 centimeters away from the participant. The joystick shaft was 15 centimeters long. The tip was to be rotated around a 12 cm circle which is parallel to the frontal view of the participant (for example; on a parallel plane to the screen of the computer. The joystick position was recorder at 75Hz rate. The joystick movement was passively damped. The rotation of the joystick was freed at its shaft.

The feet of the participant relaxed on the 2 switches. The Stimuli A pact of four 2D small figures were organized, as shown in figure 1 within their canonical orientations, all the figures were established from the reflections and rotations of a single primary figure. All the figures were white solid on a background which was black, projecting a visual angle of approximately three degrees. The computer screen resolution was about 0.4mm/pixel and spanning stimuli of 90.60 pixels. A different set of yellow solid arrows (of 70 pixels long, projecting 3 degrees visual angle) were organized that were directed in each of the probable orientations linked to the figures.

Figure 1 the mental rotation task stimuli (canonical orientations) Procedure At every trail the participant carried out 2 tasks concurrently, the motor and the imagery tasks. The task for the imagery was the same as the one for Cooper 1973 mental rotation 2D task. The procedure comprised of 3 phases, as indicated in figure 2. In the course of phase 1, (which took 5 seconds); the participant looked the figure of the stimulus alongside an arrow directed to it from the screen center as outlined by (Bookheimer, et al. 2006). .

Within the phase 1, at all time the figure was pivoted at the screen top, within a canonical orientation as indicated in Figure 1; that orientation will be termed as 0 degrees, and the positive angles occurring clockwise. At phase II (that took 1.5 s) the arrow and the figure vanished in their place were given an arrow which was directed from the screen center to a separate spot on the screen, the v angle from 12 noon o’clock (for instance v=135◦). This angle presumed one of the following 8 values; (0◦; +/-45◦, +/-90 ◦, 135◦ and 180◦.

( if v=0◦, the phase 2 arrow coincides with phase 1 arrow). At phase 3, the phase II arrow kept on the screen as the figure come back again on the screen spot which the arrow indicated. The participants task was to determine as accurately and quickly as they could, whether the presented figures at the phase III was similar to the one in phase I (but not for the rotation purposes) or if it were a mirror image of the said figure, when identical, the participants were to push the foot-switch on the right and if the response was otherwise the participant were to press the foot switch on the left.

The stimuli sequence of the task of the mental rotation The period between the phase III onset and the participants’ response will be termed as the response time (RT). The instructions of the participant particularly indicated the mental rotation as the strategy, and requested then to apply in Phase II 1.5s “to start to imagine” how the figure will appear like by the time it appears again from the a particular point of orientation. Results Three kinds of date was obtained the (the RTs) in the task of imagery (on a resolution temporal of 13ms), the task of imagery response and the trajectories of the motor (the rates of the error), as a result of the computer error, estimated at 1.

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