The global-local mental rotation in divided attention paradigm

Abstract

The present study addressed to explore whether precedence of the global rotation over the local rotation existed in a normal/mirror judgment task with divided-attention paradigm. Subjects had to decide whether or not a normal letter appeared at either level of a compound stimulus, Each level of compound stimulus could be rotated 0°, 60°, 120° or 180° separately. The results showed that : The RT and ACC were changed linearly with rotation angle, and the global rotation was faster and more accurately than local rotation. which provided convergent evidence for our previous finding using a focused-attention paradigm. Our findings were discussed in terms of the mechanism of global advantage on mental rotation. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.