Training of mental rotation ability in virtual spaces

Abstract

Mental rotation ability is seen as an important condition for the development of professional competence in many technical professions. Previous studies have shown that mental rotation can be trained by repeatedly performing mental or manual rotations. Virtual technology opens up the possibility of capturing and training mental rotation ability in near-reality environments. So far, there is little empirical evidence on the potential and effectiveness of virtual environments to analyse and enhance this ability. This study is intended to generate findings on the VR-based, adaptive training of mental rotation ability for the development of a support measure. A pre-post examination of mental rotation ability was chosen as the design of the study. Two virtual phases took place between the pre- and post-inquiry, in which the test persons (mainly students, N = 100) dealt with virtual 3D items. It was shown that the mental rotation ability of the test subjects improved after working with virtual items. Furthermore, the results provide information on the suitability of the virtual 3D items for measuring and the adaptive training of mental rotation. The flaws of the study and the prospects for designing an adaptive, VR-based form of mental rotation training are discussed.