Mental rotation and mathematical abilities - Effect of physical education

Abstract

Mental rotation (MR) defines the capacity to produce the mental image of any object and to rotate it under different perspectives. It belongs to the area of spatial ability and it has been considered as an important aspect of “intellectual” performance (Johnson and Bouchard, 2005). Several studies have found a relationship between the capacity of a good MR performance (measured by appropriate tests such as the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test; VMRT; Vandenberg and Kuse, 1978) and the performance of diverse mental and physical activities. Thompson et al. (2013) have found a link between MR ability and basic numerical representations in students, while Cheng and Mix (2014) found an effect of MR training on the performance of missing term problems (e.g., 4 + ? = 11) in children (6-8 years old). The cerebral motor areas involved in MR have also been identified, suggesting the probable relevance of MR in sport and physical education (PE) and stimulating the study of the relationship between MR and motor processes. However much less is known about the effect of physical activity on the performance of MR tasks, even if some studies have reported an improvement of MR performance after PE. The aim of the present study was thus to examine the possible effects of PE on both MR and mathematical abilities. Two MR pre-tests were administered to 27 young male subjects (18-19 years of age): 1) the VMRT, a test based on perspective geometric drawings, each of them representing a structure made of ten cubes relied face-to-face and forming three “elbows”, and 2) a body MR “task” (BMRT) designed on the basis of the VMRT except that the stimuli were postural images of a computer-made human body. The subjects also performed two series of tasks involving mathematical abilities: 1) comparing twodigit numbers from a given list of pairs, to determine which of the two was numerically larger, and 2) performing arithmetic operations drawn from a list given to the subjects. The 27 subjects were divided in two groups: fourteen control subjects practiced no artistic gymnastics, nor MR training during 6 weeks. Thirteen subjects practiced each week a 30-40mn session of training based on gymnastic movements of rotation (e.g.: vertical jumps with a quarter turn, forward roll, cart wheel, etc…). At the end of the 6 weeks both groups performed again the same tests given before the experiment. The results suggest a positive influence of the physical practice on the VMRT score and on the number comparison task implying a possible influence of PE on motor learning and on other curricular disciplines.