> Journal Name: COGNITIVE PROCESSING (ISSN: 1612-4782)
> Issue: Vol. 14 No. 2, 2013
> IDS#: 135GV
> Alert Expires: 10 JAN 2014
> Number of Articles in Issue: 15 (15 included in this e-mail)
> Organization ID: c4f3d919329a46768459d3e35b8102e6
> ========================================================================
> Note: Instructions on how to purchase the full text of an article and Thomson Reuters Science Contact information are at the end of the e-mail.
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 103-104 (Editorial Material)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500001
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Introduction to the special issue on spatial learning and reasoning processes
>
> Authors:
> Shipley, TF; Gentner, D
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):103-104; MAY 2013
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 105-115 (Review)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500002
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Understanding spatial transformations: similarities and differences between mental rotation and mental folding
>
> Authors:
> Harris, J; Hirsh-Pasek, K; Newcombe, NS
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):105-115; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Mental rotation and mental folding, two widely used measures of spatial
> ability, both require the dynamic spatial transformation of objects with
> respect to their internal spatial structure. Traditionally, however,
> these two skills have been considered quite distinct, based primarily on
> factor analyses of psychometric data. This paper reviews the
> similarities and differences between mental rotation and mental folding
> from a variety of perspectives, including their definitions, component
> cognitive processes, neurological bases, developmental trajectories,
> malleability, predictive validity, and psychometric properties. We
> conclude that mental rotation and mental folding are similar in many
> respects. However, the tasks differ in whether they require rigid or
> non-rigid transformations of objects. In addition, mental rotation shows
> robust sex-related differences whereas mental folding does not. We also
> identify specific questions for which research is lacking.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 117-127 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500003
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3A1/2 and 5A1/2A years of age
>
> Authors:
> Frick, A; Ferrara, K; Newcombe, NS
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):117-127; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Mental rotation is an important spatial skill. However, there is
> controversy concerning its early development and susceptibility to
> intervention. In the present study, we assessed individual differences
> in the mental rotation abilities of children between 3A1/2 and 5A1/2A
> years of age, using a touch screen paradigm to simplify task demands. A
> figure or its mirror image was presented in 8 different orientations,
> and children indicated in which of two holes the figure would fit by
> touching one of the holes on the screen. Task instructions were varied
> in three conditions, giving the children the opportunity to gather
> manual or observational experience with rotations of different stimuli,
> or giving no additional experience. Children's error rates and response
> times increased linearly with increasing angular disparity between the
> figure and the hole by the age of 5 years, but 4-year-olds were found to
> respond at chance for all angular disparities, despite the use of a
> touch screen paradigm. Both manual and observational experience
> increased the response accuracy of 5-year-olds, especially for children
> already performing well. However, there was no effect on 4-year-olds.
> Results point to an emerging readiness to use mental rotation and profit
> from observational and manual experience at age 5.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 129-142 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500004
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> When do spatial abilities support student comprehension of STEM visualizations?
>
> Authors:
> Hinze, SR; Williamson, VM; Shultz, MJ; Williamson, KC; Deslongchamps, G;
> Rapp, DN
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):129-142; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Spatial visualization abilities are positively related to performance on
> science, technology, engineering, and math tasks, but this relationship
> is influenced by task demands and learner strategies. In two studies, we
> illustrate these interactions by demonstrating situations in which
> greater spatial ability leads to problematic performance. In Study 1,
> chemistry students observed and explained sets of simultaneously
> presented displays depicting chemical phenomena at macroscopic and
> particulate levels of representation. Prior to viewing, the students
> were asked to make predictions at the macroscopic level. Eye movement
> analyses revealed that greater spatial ability was associated with
> greater focus on the prediction-relevant macroscopic level.
> Unfortunately, that restricted focus was also associated with
> lower-quality explanations of the phenomena. In Study 2, we presented
> the same displays but manipulated whether participants were asked to
> make predictions prior to viewing. Spatial ability was again associated
> with restricted focus, but only for students who completed the
> prediction task. Eliminating the prediction task encouraged attempts to
> integrate the displays that related positively to performance,
> especially for participants with high spatial ability. Spatial abilities
> can be recruited in effective or ineffective ways depending on
> alignments between the demands of a task and the approaches individuals
> adopt for completing that task.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 143-152 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500005
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Breaking new ground in the mind: an initial study of mental brittle transformation and mental rigid rotation in science experts
>
> Authors:
> Resnick, I; Shipley, TF
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):143-152; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> The current study examines the spatial skills employed in different
> spatial reasoning tasks, by asking how science experts who are practiced
> in different types of visualizations perform on different spatial tasks.
> Specifically, the current study examines the varieties of mental
> transformations. We hypothesize that there may be two broad classes of
> mental transformations: rigid body mental transformations and non-rigid
> mental transformations. We focus on the disciplines of geology and
> organic chemistry because different types of transformations are central
> to the two disciplines: While geologists and organic chemists may both
> confront rotation in the practice of their profession, only geologists
> confront brittle transformations. A new instrument was developed to
> measure mental brittle transformation (visualizing breaking). Geologists
> and organic chemists performed similarly on a measure of mental
> rotation, while geologists outperformed organic chemists on the mental
> brittle transformation test. The differential pattern of skill on the
> two tests for the two groups of experts suggests that mental brittle
> transformation and mental rotation are different spatial skills. The
> roles of domain general cognitive resources (attentional control,
> spatial working memory, and perceptual filling in) and strategy in
> completing mental brittle transformation are discussed. The current
> study illustrates how ecological and interdisciplinary approaches
> complement traditional cognitive science to offer a comprehensive
> approach to understanding the nature of spatial thinking.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 153-162 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500006
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Individual differences in mental rotation: what does gesture tell us?
>
> Authors:
> Goksun, T; Goldin-Meadow, S; Newcombe, N; Shipley, T
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):153-162; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Gestures are common when people convey spatial information, for example,
> when they give directions or describe motion in space. Here, we examine
> the gestures speakers produce when they explain how they solved mental
> rotation problems (Shepard and Meltzer in Science 171:701-703, 1971). We
> asked whether speakers gesture differently while describing their
> problems as a function of their spatial abilities. We found that
> low-spatial individuals (as assessed by a standard paper-and-pencil
> measure) gestured more to explain their solutions than high-spatial
> individuals. While this finding may seem surprising, finer-grained
> analyses showed that low-spatial participants used gestures more often
> than high-spatial participants to convey "static only" information but
> less often than high-spatial participants to convey dynamic information.
> Furthermore, the groups differed in the types of gestures used to convey
> static information: high-spatial individuals were more likely than
> low-spatial individuals to use gestures that captured the internal
> structure of the block forms. Our gesture findings thus suggest that
> encoding block structure may be as important as rotating the blocks in
> mental spatial transformation.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 163-173 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500007
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Twisting space: are rigid and non-rigid mental transformations separate spatial skills?
>
> Authors:
> Atit, K; Shipley, TF; Tikoff, B
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):163-173; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Cognitive science has primarily studied the mental simulation of spatial
> transformations with tests that focus on rigid transformations (e.g.,
> mental rotation). However, the events of our world are not limited to
> rigid body movements. Objects can undergo complex non-rigid
> discontinuous and continuous changes, such as bending and breaking. We
> developed a new task to assess mental visualization of non-rigid
> transformations. The Non-rigid Bending test required participants to
> visualize a continuous non-rigid transformation applied to an array of
> objects by asking simple spatial questions about the position of two
> forms on a bent transparent sheet of plastic. Participants were to judge
> the relative position of the forms when the sheet was unbent. To study
> the cognitive skills needed to visualize rigid and non-rigid events, we
> employed four tests of mental transformations-the Non-rigid Bending test
> (a test of continuous non-rigid mental transformation), the Paper
> Folding test and the Mental Brittle Transformation test (two tests of
> non-rigid mental transformation with local rigid transformations), and
> the Vandenberg and Kuse (Percept Motor Skills 47:599-604, 1978) Mental
> Rotation test (a test of rigid mental transformation). Performance on
> the Mental Brittle Transformation test and the Paper Folding test
> independently predicted performance on the Non-rigid Bending test and
> performance on the Mental Rotation test; however, mental rotation
> performance was not a unique predictor of mental bending performance.
> Results are consistent with separable skills for rigid and non-rigid
> mental simulation and illustrate the value of an ecological approach to
> the analysis of the structure of spatial thinking.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 175-187 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500008
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Finding faults: analogical comparison supports spatial concept learning in geoscience
>
> Authors:
> Jee, BD; Uttal, DH; Gentner, D; Manduca, C; Shipley, TF; Sageman, B
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):175-187; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> A central issue in education is how to support the spatial thinking
> involved in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
> (STEM). We investigated whether and how the cognitive process of
> analogical comparison supports learning of a basic spatial concept in
> geoscience, fault. Because of the high variability in the appearance of
> faults, it may be difficult for students to learn the category-relevant
> spatial structure. There is abundant evidence that comparing analogous
> examples can help students gain insight into important category-defining
> features (Gentner in Cogn Sci 34(5):752-775, 2010). Further, comparing
> high-similarity pairs can be especially effective at revealing key
> differences (Sagi et al. 2012). Across three experiments, we tested
> whether comparison of visually similar contrasting examples would help
> students learn the fault concept. Our main findings were that
> participants performed better at identifying faults when they (1)
> compared contrasting (fault/no fault) cases versus viewing each case
> separately (Experiment 1), (2) compared similar as opposed to dissimilar
> contrasting cases early in learning (Experiment 2), and (3) viewed a
> contrasting pair of schematic block diagrams as opposed to a single
> block diagram of a fault as part of an instructional text (Experiment
> 3). These results suggest that comparison of visually similar
> contrasting cases helped distinguish category-relevant from
> category-irrelevant features for participants. When such comparisons
> occurred early in learning, participants were more likely to form an
> accurate conceptual representation. Thus, analogical comparison of
> images may provide one powerful way to enhance spatial learning in
> geoscience and other STEM disciplines.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 189-191 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500009
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> The spatial thinking of origami: evidence from think-aloud protocols
>
> Authors:
> Taylor, HA; Tenbrink, T
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):189-191; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, involves spatial
> thinking to both interpret and carry out its instructions. As such, it
> has the potential to provide spatial training (Taylor and Hutton under
> review). The present work uses cognitive discourse analysis to reveal
> the spatial thinking involved in origami and to suggest how it may be
> beneficial for spatial training. Analysis of think-aloud data while
> participants folded origami and its relation to gender, spatial ability
> measures, and thinking style suggest that one way that people profit
> from spatial training is through the possibility to verbalize concepts
> needed to solve-related spatial tasks.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 193-195 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500010
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Collaborating in spatial tasks: how partners coordinate their spatial memories and descriptions
>
> Authors:
> Galati, A; Avraamides, MN
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):193-195; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> We summarize findings from a study examining whether the availability of
> the conversational partner's spatial viewpoint influences the speaker's
> spatial memories, description strategies, their joint efficiency and
> accuracy on the task, as well as the partner's resulting spatial
> memories. In 18 pairs, Directors described to a misaligned Matcher
> arrays that they learned while either knowing their Matcher's viewpoint
> or not. Memory tests preceding descriptions revealed that Directors
> represented their Matcher's viewpoint when known in advance. Moreover,
> Directors adapted the perspective of their descriptions according to
> each other's cognitive demands, given their misalignment. The number of
> conversational turns pairs took to coordinate suggested that pairs'
> strategies were effective at minimizing their collective effort.
> Nonetheless, in terms of accuracy on the task, pairs reconstructed more
> distorted arrays the more partner-centered descriptions Directors used.
> The Directors' descriptions also predicted Matchers' facilitation for
> their own perspective in memory tests following the description.
> Together, these findings demonstrate that partners in collaborative
> spatial tasks adapt their respective memory representations and
> descriptions contingently with the aim of optimizing coordination.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 197-199 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500011
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Elimination of sex difference in direction giving
>
> Authors:
> Wan, XA; Newcombe, NS; Fitzhugh, S
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):197-199; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Past studies have shown that men provide more cardinal information and
> mileage estimates than women when describing routes learned from maps.
> In the current study, we examined whether this sex difference would
> persist if more legends were added to the maps. The participants looked
> at maps for 3 min and then wrote down directions from memory. Their
> usage of cardinal directions, mileage estimates, landmarks, and
> left-right directions was coded and analyzed. The results showed that
> men and women used cardinal directions equally for the 4-legend maps,
> whereas men used more cardinal directions than women for 1-legend maps
> as shown previously. Our results suggested that subtly drawing attention
> to cardinal directions successfully eliminated the sex difference in
> usage, although a different pattern was seen for mileage estimates. The
> underlying mechanisms are discussed.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 201-204 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500012
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Explaining sex differences in mental rotation: role of spatial activity experience
>
> Authors:
> Nazareth, A; Herrera, A; Pruden, SM
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):201-204; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Males consistently outperform females on mental rotation tasks, such as
> the Vandenberg and Kuse (1978) Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47(2),
> 599-604, mental rotation test (MRT; e.g. Voyer et al. 1995) in
> Psychological Bulletin, 117, 250-265. The present study investigates
> whether these sex differences in MRT scores can be explained in part by
> early spatial activity experience, particularly those spatial activities
> that have been sex-typed as masculine/male-oriented. Utilizing an online
> survey, 571 ethnically diverse adult university students completed a
> brief demographic survey, an 81-item spatial activity survey, and the
> MRT. Results suggest that the significant relation between sex of the
> participant and MRT score is partially mediated by the number of
> masculine spatial activities participants had engaged in as youth.
> Closing the gap between males and females in spatial ability, a skill
> linked to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics success, may
> be accomplished in part by encouraging female youth to engage in more
> particular kinds of spatial activities.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 205-208 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500013
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Spatial language and the psychological reality of schematization
>
> Authors:
> Holmes, KJ; Wolff, P
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):205-208; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Although the representations underlying spatial language are often
> assumed to be schematic in nature, empirical evidence for a schematic
> format of representation is lacking. In this research, we investigate
> the psychological reality of such a format, using simulated motion
> during scene processing-previously linked to schematization-as a
> diagnostic. One group of participants wrote a verbal description of a
> scene and then completed a change detection task assessing simulated
> motion, while another group completed only the latter task. We expected
> that effects of simulated motion would be stronger following language
> use than not, and specifically following the use of spatial, relative to
> non-spatial, language. Both predictions were supported. Further, the
> effect of language was scene independent, suggesting that language may
> encourage a general mode of schematic construal. The study and its
> findings illustrate a novel approach to examining the perceptual
> properties of mental representations.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 209-211 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500014
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Variable stability of preferences in spatial reasoning
>
> Authors:
> Schultheis, H; Barkowsky, T
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):209-211; MAY 2013
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 213-215 (Article)
> *View Full Record:
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000318277500015
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Effects of learning from interaction with physical or mediated devices
>
> Authors:
> Flanagan, R
>
> Source:
> *COGNITIVE PROCESSING*, 14 (2):213-215; MAY 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Online learning tools and course materials have not only taken root:
> they are fully established and thriving. However, some wonder whether
> the missing interaction with physical, rather than virtual, tools may be
> undermining the foundation of more abstract spatial and cognitive
> skills. Sixty third-grade (28 male and 32 female) children with a mean
> age of 8.95 years (SD = .56 years) were randomly assigned to practice
> new math skills on a physical wooden Chinese abacus or a virtual Chinese
> abacus, programmed using Hypercard. Later; the children did equally well
> on a paper and pencil recognition test, but the children who had
> practiced with the virtual Chinese abacus were significantly worse at
> building on their knowledge to figure out how to use the abacus for more
> advanced computation than those who had practiced with the wooden
> Chinese abacus. This could have important implications for the early
> development of the foundation of mathematical, spatial, and cognitive
> skills.
>
>
>
First of all, let us highlight that Scientific American just published an excellent review of our new book. The review author sums it up by saying that "...I wish I had read this awesome guide when I was much younger...I find the emerging field of neuroplasticity immensely exciting, and guides like this one are both hopeful and reasonable." As a reader points out, the word "awesome" does not appear often in science-oriented publications...so we are especially proud to see The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age (April 2013; 284 pages) merit such treatment.
New thinking:"...this book is mandatory reading for the entire staff... an inspirational and educational goldmine." (Martin J. Pazzani, 5-star amazon review)
SharpBrains | 660 4th Street, Suite 205 | San Francisco | CA | 94107
A quote that has often been attributed to me, based on some comments I made on a Listserv many years ago and on a slide I often use when presenting at workshops is...."we are the instrument"...with re: to the art and science of "intelligent" intelligence testing and interpretation by psychologists. It reminded me of a quote that captures a good portion of the variance of my "we are the instrument" mantra. It is reproduced below. The source is also listed.
