The Motor System, Mental Rotation, and our own Body

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In this project we assess the ontogeny of the connection between motor processes and mental transformation across a broad age range. In a set of two experiments participants from 2-year-olds up to adults will be examined with a unified research paradigm. In the first experiment, we will test reaction time and accuracy in a mental rotation task that induces the projection of a human body on the stimuli. In the second experiment, the effect of biomechanical movement constraints on mental rotation will be tested. In a further experiment, the development of the representations of human biomechanics will be examined and the results will be compared with the findings of the mental rotation experiments. This comparison allows for an assessment of the development of the relation between motor processes and mental transformations.