Embodied mental rotation: a special link between egocentric transformation and the bodily self

This experiment investigated the influence of motor expertise on object-based versus egocentric transformations in a chronometric mental rotation task using images of either the own or another person’s body as stimulus material. According to the embodied cognition viewpoint, we hypothesized motor-experts to outperform non-motor experts specifically in the egocentric condition because of higher kinesthetic representation and motor simulations compared to object-based transformations. In line with this, we expected that images of the own body are solved faster than another person’s body stimuli. Results showed a benefit of motor expertise and representations of another person’s body, but only for the object-based transformation task. That is, this other-advantage diminishes in egocentric transformations. Since motor experts did not show any specific expertise in rotational movements, we concluded that using human bodies as stimulus material elicits embodied spatial transformations, which facilitates performance exclusively for egocentric transformations. Regarding stimulus material, the other-advantage ascribed to increased self-awareness-consciousness distracting attention-demanding resources, disappeared in the egocentric condition. This result may be due to the stronger link between the bodily self and motor representations compared to that emerging in object-based transformations.

[1]  M. Tsakiris.  My body in the brain: A neurocognitive model of body-ownership , 2010, Neuropsychologia.

[2]  C. Degueldre,et al.  Here I am: The cortical correlates of visual self-recognition , 2007, Brain Research.

[3]  P. Jansen,et al.  Object-based and egocentric mental rotation performance in older adults: The importance of gender differences and motor ability , 2014, Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition.

[4]  Klaus Kessler,et al.  The embodied nature of spatial perspective taking: Embodied transformation versus sensorimotor interference , 2010, Cognition.

[5]  Rudolf Stark,et al.  The embodied nature of motor imagery: the influence of posture and perspective , 2009, Experimental Brain Research.

[6]  Leonie Kohl,et al.  Mental Images And Their Transformations , 2016 .

[7]  L M Parsons,et al.  Imagined spatial transformation of one's body. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[8]  W. Froming,et al.  Public and private self-awareness: When personal attitudes conflict with societal expectations , 1982 .

[9]  Brice Isableu,et al.  Embodied spatial transformations: "body analogy" for the mental rotation of objects. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[10]  K. Kessler,et al.  Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: disembodied but not embodied dissociative experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[11]  Barbara Tversky,et al.  Mental spatial transformations of objects and perspective , 2001, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[12]  Vittorio Gallese,et al.  Motor Simulation and the Bodily Self , 2011, PloS one.

[13]  Jeffrey M. Zacks,et al.  Transformations of visuospatial images. , 2005, Behavioral and cognitive neuroscience reviews.

[14]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[15]  M. Onofrj,et al.  Autoscopic phenomena: case report and review of literature , 2011, Behavioral and Brain Functions.

[16]  J. Murray,et al.  Flipping and spinning: Spatial transformation procedures in the identification of rotated natural objects , 1997, Memory & cognition.

[17]  A. Wohlschläger,et al.  Mental and manual rotation. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  Barbara Tversky,et al.  A Parametric Study of Mental Spatial Transformations of Bodies , 2002, NeuroImage.

[19]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  The Human Body , 2001 .

[20]  O. Blanke,et al.  The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction , 2005, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[21]  Andrea Peterson Zomignani,et al.  EFFECTS OF MENTAL PRACTICE ON MOTOR SKILL LEARNING , 2007 .

[22]  Petra Jansen,et al.  The influence of juggling on mental rotation performance in children with spina bifida , 2012, Brain and Cognition.

[23]  Vittorio Gallese,et al.  A neuroscientific grasp of concepts: from control to representation. , 2003, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[24]  Jennifer M. Shephard,et al.  Imagined rotations of self versus objects: an fMRI study , 2005, Neuropsychologia.

[25]  D. Landers,et al.  The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. , 1983 .

[26]  B. Tversky,et al.  Embodied and disembodied cognition: Spatial perspective-taking , 2009, Cognition.

[27]  Philip A. Vernon,et al.  Der Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test and other trail-making correlates of general intelligence , 1993 .

[28]  V. Gallese.  Embodied simulation: From neurons to phenomenal experience , 2005 .

[29]  Fred W. Mast,et al.  Mental Object Rotation and Egocentric Body Transformation: Two Dissociable Processes? , 2005, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[30]  Anna Devlin,et al.  Adult Age Differences in the Ability to Mentally Transform Object and Body Stimuli , 2010, Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition.

[31]  Ana Solodkin,et al.  Imaging motor imagery: methodological issues related to expertise. , 2008, Methods.

[32]  M. Hegarty,et al.  A dissociation between object manipulation spatial ability and spatial orientation ability , 2001, Memory & cognition.

[33]  J. Kállai,et al.  Cognitive Subprocesses of Mental Rotation: Why is a Good Rotator Better Than a Poor One? , 2001, Perceptual and motor skills.

[34]  Sarah H. Creem-Regehr,et al.  Neural correlates of two imagined egocentric transformations , 2007, NeuroImage.

[35]  Patrick Haggard,et al.  Proprioceptive integration and body representation: insights into dancers’ expertise , 2011, Experimental Brain Research.

[36]  Frank E. Pollick,et al.  Motor Simulation without Motor Expertise: Enhanced Corticospinal Excitability in Visually Experienced Dance Spectators , 2012, PloS one.

[37]  Petra Jansen,et al.  Different Mental Rotation Performance in Students of Music, Sport and Education. , 2012 .

[38]  Mark May,et al.  Separating mental transformations and spatial compatibility effects in the own body transformation task , 2012, Cognitive Processing.

[39]  L. Parsons,et al.  Use of implicit motor imagery for visual shape discrimination as revealed by PET , 1995, Nature.

[40]  M. Weigelt,et al.  Selective effects of motor expertise in mental body rotation tasks: Comparing object-based and perspective transformations , 2011, Brain and Cognition.

[41]  L. B. Smith,et al.  Mental rotation of representations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects , 1985 .

[42]  Mary Hegarty,et al.  Modulation of neural activity by angle of rotation during imagined spatial transformations , 2006, NeuroImage.

[43]  Stephen M. Kosslyn,et al.  Mental rotation is not easily cognitively penetrable , 2010 .

[44]  J. Rieser,et al.  Sensitivity to Perspective Structure While Walking without Vision , 1986, Perception.

[45]  Klaus Kessler,et al.  A cross-culture, cross-gender comparison of perspective taking mechanisms , 2014, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[46]  S. Gallagher.  How the body shapes the mind , 2005 .

[47]  Dana Samson,et al.  The use of embodied self-rotation for visual and spatial perspective-taking , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[48]  Emanuela Galante,et al.  Is it Mine? Hemispheric Asymmetries in Corporeal Self-recognition , 2008, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[49]  H. Brod.  Cross-Culture, Cross-Gender , 1987 .

[50]  Jeffrey M. Zacks,et al.  Imagined transformations of bodies: an fMRI investigation , 1999, Neuropsychologia.

[51]  Klaus Kessler,et al.  Spatial Perspective Taking is an Embodied Process, but Not for Everyone in the Same Way: Differences Predicted by Sex and Social Skills Score , 2012, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[52]  P. Jansen,et al.  Mental Rotation Performance in Male Soccer Players , 2012, PloS one.

[53]  Margaret Wilson,et al.  Six views of embodied cognition , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[54]  O. Blanke,et al.  Body ownership and embodiment: Vestibular and multisensory mechanisms , 2008, Neurophysiologie Clinique/Clinical Neurophysiology.

[55]  D R Proffitt,et al.  The influence of spatial reference frames on imagined object- and viewer rotations. , 1999, Acta psychologica.

[56]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Images and Their Transformations , 1982 .

[57]  Pascale Michelon,et al.  Two kinds of visual perspective taking , 2006, Perception & psychophysics.

[58]  D. Moreau,et al.  Enhancing Spatial Ability Through Sport Practice Evidence for an Effect of Motor Training on Mental Rotation Performance , 2012 .