Exploring the relation between non-spatial skills and mental rotation from infancy to preK

心理旋转是一种在心理上操纵一个物体的视觉表征并从不同方向识别其外观的能力，表现出从婴儿期到学龄前阶段的稳定性。这种能力可以预测幼儿园及以后的数学成绩，以及进入科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域。本研究的重点是确定非空间加工对心理旋转能力的贡献。研究结果将有助于确定理想的干预时间点，促进对影响心理旋转的因素的理解，并解决婴儿期心理旋转的个体差异如何预测未来的能力。这项工作将涉及创建和改进可用于追踪心理旋转从婴儿期到学龄前发展的测量；因此，不仅为该领域提供了新的工具，而且产生的见解可以为当前关于心理旋转及其与非空间过程的关系的理论概念提供信息。关键的研究问题如下：哪些非空间过程对心理旋转能力及其发展有贡献？心理旋转、物体特征、加工偏向和运动体验之间的关联将使用交叉序贯设计与重叠的年龄队列进行检验。研究人员将招募一个8个月大的婴儿队列，一个20个月大的蹒跚学步的队列，一个3岁的学龄前队列。每个队列将在三个时间点进行评估--婴儿每6个月(即8、14和20个月)，蹒跚学步的儿童每8个月(即20、28和36个月)，学龄前儿童每年(3、4和5岁)。当在特定年龄进行检查时，样本将提供心理旋转和非空间技能(即物体特征、加工偏见和运动体验)之间的关联的快照。纵向设计将允许研究人员跟踪参与者整个婴儿期、蹒跚学步或学龄前几年。这种方法提供了一个机会来理解非空间技能，例如婴儿期更早熟的运动技能，如何随着时间的推移塑造心理旋转。这些发现对于支持对特定类型的经历可以促进婴儿心理旋转的可能机制的理解至关重要。因此，这对于促进学业成就和纠正不同社会经济背景儿童在空间和数学技能方面的现有差异具有重要意义。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Mental rotation, the ability to mentally manipulate a visual representation of an object and recognize its appearance from a different orientation, shows stability from infancy through preschool. This ability predicts mathematical achievement in kindergarten and beyond as well as entry into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The present work focuses on identifying how non-spatial processes contribute to mental rotation abilities. Findings will help identify ideal time points for intervention, advance understanding of the factors that contribute to mental rotation, and address how individual differences in mental rotation during infancy predict later abilities. This work will involve the creation and refinement of measures that can be used to trace the development of mental rotation from infancy into preschool; thereby, not only contributing new tools to the field, but also yielding insights that can inform current theoretical conceptions of mental rotation and its relation to non-spatial processes. The critical research question is as follows: What are the non-spatial processes that contribute to mental rotation abilities and their development? Associations between mental rotation, object features, processing bias, and motor experience will be examined using a cross-sequential design with overlapping age cohorts. The investigators will recruit an infant cohort at 8 months, a toddler cohort at 20 months, and a preschool cohort at 3 years. Each cohort will be assessed at three time points -- every six months for infants (i.e., 8, 14, and 20 months), every 8 months for toddlers (i.e., 20, 28, and 36 months), and every year for preschoolers (3, 4, and 5 years). When examined at a specific age, the sample will provide a snapshot into the association between mental rotation and non-spatial skills (i.e., object features, processing bias, and motor experience). The longitudinal design will allow the investigators to follow participants across infancy, toddlerhood, or the preschool years. This approach provides an opportunity to understand how non-spatial skills, such as more precocious motor skills during infancy, may shape mental rotation over time. Such findings are central to bolstering understanding of the possible mechanisms by which particular types of experiences can promote infants' mental rotation. This, consequently, has implications for promoting academic achievement and remediating existing discrepancies in spatial and mathematical skills in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.