Abstract
Laterality judgments about the left or right hand of a schematic human figure, made from the perspective of the figure, are faster and more accurate when the figure is presented in back-facing view as compared to front-facing view. Mental perspective transformation accounts of this finding have recently been challenged on grounds of a confounding of facing direction with spatial stimulus–response (S-R) compatibility (Gardner and Potts in Acta Psychol 137: 371–381, 2011). We report two experiments that introduced stimulus figures in an orientation that was neutral in terms of spatial S-R compatibility. Results revealed a stable back-facing advantage that cannot be explained by compatibility conflicts. Comparisons of these neutral stimuli and conditions with figures presented in upright or upside-down orientation, however, confirmed a substantial impact of spatial S-R compatibility in the latter conditions. The present experiments show that it is possible to distinguish between mental transformation and incompatibility costs allowing future work to focus on the specialized mental spatial transformation processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Avraamides MN, Kelly JW (2010) Multiple systems of spatial memory: evidence from described scenes. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 36:635–645
Blanke O, Mohr C, Michel CM, Pascual-Leone A, Brugger P, Seeck M, Landis T, Thut G (2005) Linking out-of-body experience and self-processing to mental own-body imagery at the temporoparietal junction. J Neurosci 25:550–567
Gardner MR, Potts R (2011) Domain general mechanisms account for imagined transformations of whole body perspective. Acta Psychol 137:371–381
Kessler K, Thomson LA (2010) The embodied nature of spatial perspective taking: embodied transformation versus sensorimotor interference. Cognition 114:72–88
Lu CH, Proctor RW (1995) The influence of irrelevant location information on performance. A review of the Simon and spatial Stroop effects. Psychon Bull Rev 2:174–207
May M (2004) Imaginal perspective switches in remembered environments: transformation versus interference accounts. Cogn Psychol 48:163–206
Parsons LM (1987) Imagined transformations of one’s body. J Exp Psychol Gen 116:172–191
Steggemann Y, Engbert K, Weigelt M (2011) Selective effects of motor expertise in mental body rotation tasks: comparing object-based and perspective transformations. Brain Cogn 76:97–105
Zacks JM, Ollinger JM, Sheridan MA, Tversky B (2002) A parametric study of mental spatial transformations of bodies. NeuroImage 16:857–872
Acknowledgments
We thank Katharina Weber for collecting the data and the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding this research.
Conflict of interest
This supplement was not sponsored by outside commercial interests. It was funded entirely by ECONA, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Roma, Italy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
May, M., Wendt, M. Separating mental transformations and spatial compatibility effects in the own body transformation task. Cogn Process 13 (Suppl 1), 257–260 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0455-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0455-y