Using Manual Rotation and Gesture to Improve Mental Rotation in Preschoolers

We report the effects on accuracy and reaction time at a mental rotation task for four year old subjects who were either given practice rotating objects on a computer screen by turning a joystick or gesturing about rotating objects on a computer screen. We found that training children to gesture about rotation improves performance on MR. Children who were given practice rotating objects with a joystick do not show the same level of RT improvement as children who either gestured about movement or who simply practiced the task over the course of the experiment without any training.