The intent of this thesis is to explore the relationship between spatial ability and the wide range of musical instruments musicians play. Existing literature has established a link between musicianship and improved spatial ability, but researchers have yet to look at how the spatial makeup of different musical instruments may, in turn, reveal unique levels of spatial proficiency from one instrumentalist to the next. This study was formatted as an online survey that included a music experience scale, a demographics scale, and two measures of spatial ability: the Card Rotations Test (CRT) and the Paper Folding Test (PFT). Participants who played larger instruments were hypothesized to score higher on the spatial ability tests. Results show that specific musical instruments score differently on spatial ability measures, and large instruments like the piano and marimba consistently outperform smaller instruments. This largely exploratory study attempts to show that the psychological discipline as a whole should reevaluate how it categorizes and studies musicians. Furthermore, these preliminary findings will encourage better practice for how music educators handle the musical instrument selection process, hopefully leading to a more long-term, student-centered approach.

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The ability to recall a spatial layout from multiple orientations – spatial flexibility – is a challenging cognitive process, especially when the global configuration cannot be viewed from a single vantage point, as spatial information must first be integrated before it can be flexibly recalled. The current study examined if experiencing the transition between multiple viewpoints enhances spatial flexibility for both non-integrated (Exp. 1) and integrated environments (Exp. 2), if the type of transition matters, and if action provides an additional advantage over passive visual flow. In Experiment 1, participants viewed an array of dollhouse furniture from four viewpoints that presented the global configuration from multiple orientations. In Experiment 2, the array was viewed piecemeal, from four viewpoints that presented the global configuration in partial chunks. The control condition presented the dollhouse as a series of static views, whereas in the remaining conditions, visual flow was continuous. Participants viewed the natural transition between viewpoints, and either passively experienced the transitions (i.e., by watching the dollhouse rotate or being rolled around it), or actively generated them (i.e., by rotating the dollhouse or walking around it). Across both experiments, continuous visual flow significantly enhanced spatial flexibility when paired with observer movement around the dollhouse, either active or passive. Furthermore, when participants had to integrate spatial information across discrete learning experiences (Exp. 2), active movement provided a significant advantage above passive experience. These findings suggest that array stability is key to flexible spatial memory, with action providing an additional boost to spatial integration. / Psychology

A desktop virtual reality environment of a campus area (called Silcton) was used to examine how instructing participants on performing exploration in an unfamiliar environment impacts the acquired spatial knowledge. Participants explored the Silcton virtual environment, after having received differing instructions on what to do. Two instruction conditions were tested: (i) the participant was provided with instructions to freely explore the Silcton virtual environment for at least 10 minutes (ii) the individual explored the environment while being instructed to pay specific attention to the environment’s layout. By providing different types of instructions before exploring an unfamiliar environment, we can learn more about how the instructions' wording impacts the acquired spatial knowledge, especially when aiming for a particular behavior or memory effects. We also tested for participants’ spatial abilities and observed differences between genders and based on individual differences. The present study shows no statistically significant differences in pointing and model-building scores between any of the tested groups, namely, the different instruction groups, gender, and groups with 'low' and 'high' spatial abilities. Time spent in the environment and pointing error showed a significant negative correlation, which indicates that as experience with the environment increases, participants become better at pointing to targets in the environment. The lack of significant results might be attributed to the overall small sample sizes and/or the distribution of men and women in the two instruction groups. Therefore, for future research a close monitoring of the experimental process and a larger retainment of participants are required to provide solid evidence and draw any general conclusion. / En stationär virtuell verklighetsmiljö på ett campusområde, kallad Silcton, användes för att undersöka hur instruktioner för deltagare relaterat till att utforska okänd miljö påverkar den förvärvade rumsliga kunskapen. Deltagarna utforskade Silctons virtuella miljö, efter att ha fått olika instruktioner om vad de ska göra. Två instruktionsförhållanden testades: (i) deltagaren fick instruktionen att fritt utforska Silctons virtuella miljö i minst 10 minuter (ii) deltagaren fick instruktionen att utforska miljön samtidigt som han skulle ägna särskild uppmärksamhet åt miljöns design. Genom att tillhandahålla olika typer av instruktioner innan vi utforskar en okänd miljö kan vi lära oss mer om hur instruktionernas formulering påverkar den förvärvade rumsliga kunskapen, särskilt när man siktar på ett visst beteende eller visa minneseffekter. Vi testade också för deltagarnas rumsliga förmågor och observerade skillnader mellan könen och individuella skillnader. Resultatet för studien visar inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader i pek- och modellbyggande poäng mellan någon av de testade grupperna, nämligen de olika instruktionsgrupperna, kön och grupper med "låga" och "höga" rumsliga förmågor. Tid i miljön och pekfel visade en signifikant negativ korrelation, vilket indikerar att när erfarenheten med miljön ökar blir deltagarna bättre på att peka på mål i miljön. Bristen på signifikanta resultat kan hänföras till de övergripande små urvalsstorlekarna och/eller fördelningen av män och kvinnor i de två instruktionsgrupperna. Därför krävs för framtida forskning en noggrann övervakning av den experimentella processen och ett större antal deltagare för att tillhandahålla solida bevis och dra några allmänna slutsatser.

The thesis focuses on how different languages influence spatial cognition of their speakers, i. e., whether and how the differences in spatial language (linguistic representation of perspective, location, spatial scenes etc.) affect the non-linguistic spatial reasoning (orientation, spatial memory etc.). This issue has for a long time been a part of the studies of the relation between language and thouhgt under the flag of so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis/Hypothesis of linguistic relativity. In the first half of the theoretical part of the thesis, I attempt to summarize the history of the concept of linguistic relativity since 1950s and to revise some critical claims about linguistic relativity by re-reading Whorf's works (chapter 2). The second half of the theoretical part (chapter 3) focuses in particular on the research of the interrelations between spatial thought and language. In section 3.1, I make a brief note on the notion of space in terms of cognitive linguistics. Section 3.2 provides an selective overview of the previous research of the crosslinguic spatial-cognitive diversity. Sections 3.3 and 3.4 connect the theoretical and the empirical part of the thesis. The research itself is presented in the chapter 4. It experimentally tests the hypothesis, that the language-specific...

Le test de rotation mentale (TRM) est robuste pour faire émerger une grande différence de sexe en faveur des hommes. Il existe un stéréotype, communément admis, de moins bonnes performances des femmes en aptitude spatiale. Deux théories explicatives cohabitent. La première, biologique, est liée à une masculinisation du cerveau des garçons sous l'action des androgènes durant la vie fœtale. Dans cette hypothèse, et en raison d'un transfert d'hormones supposé durant la vie intra-utérine, les femmes qui ont un cojumeau doivent avoir des performances meilleures que celles ayant une cojumelle (Vuoksimaa et al., 2010). L'autre hypothèse, que nous défendons, suppose que les différences de sexe au TRM peuvent être socialement construites ou activées par des éléments du Contexte évaluatif et ceci quel que soient les compétences des personnes. Nous avons, pour la première fois dans une étude gémellaire, confronté ces deux hypothèses. Des paires de jumeaux jeunes adultes dizygotes de même sexe (DZMS), 23 paires d'hommes et 34 paires de femmes, et de sexe différent (DZSD), 62 paires, ont passé un TRM informatisé dans deux conditions expérimentales où l'exactitude des réponses et les temps de réponse sont enregistrés. Dans une condition, les consignes du test rendent la situation de comparaison au cojumeau possible (CSP) : « vous et votre jumeau ferez le même test aujourd'hui », dans l'autre condition (CSI) la comparaison est rendue improbable : « vous et votre jumeau ferez des tâches différentes ». Nos résultats n'accréditent pas la théorie biologique et sont en faveur d'une explication en termes d'interférence du stéréotype. / The mental rotation test (MRT) is the most robust test revealing that men outperform women. Two major causes have been proposed for explaining the origin of this difference. The first focused on brain masculinization under the action of androgen during the fetal development. Vuoksimaa et al., (2010) showed that dizygotic opposite-sex female have greater performances than dizygotic same-sex female. For the second hypothesis, sex difference is mainly due to social regulation factors and stereotype threat interaction. We test here this second hypothesis. In a twin design we tested, for the first time, these two causal explanations. Same-sex dizygotic young adult pairs (23 pairs of males and 34 pairs of females), and opposite-sex dizygotic pairs (62 pairs) took a computerized MRT in two experimental co-action conditions. In the first condition, the experimental situation make the co-twin comparison possible (CSP): “you and your co-twin do the same test today”, and in the other experimental condition called, improbable comparison situation (CSI), they are told that: “you and your co-twin do different test today”. Accuracy and responses time where analyzed. Our results do not support the biological model but, in contrary, support the social regulation and stereotype threat model.

As habilidades de navegação e as estratégias de memorização de rotas, temas estudados na área de Cognição Espacial, são assuntos de extrema importância que vem atraindo interesse crescente por parte de psicólogos, etólogos, biólogos, geógrafos e engenheiros. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo testar se os resultados encontrados na literatura se manteriam num contexto naturalístico em que os participantes elaborassem a rota a ser seguida e pudessem realizá-la sem a interferência do pesquisador. Em geral, os pesquisadores elaboram rotas para os participantes e interferem no percurso executado sempre que ocorre um desvio. Na presente pesquisa, também procuramos avaliar se haveria associação do desempenho nessa tarefa com características que, de acordo com a literatura, influenciam o desempenho em tarefas espaciais: tarefas de rotação mental, estratégias de memorização da rota, história de desenvolvimento, quociente de sistematização e razão 2D:4D, um indicador da exposição a andrógenos durante a gestação. O procedimento consistiu em solicitar aos participantes (11 homens, 13 mulheres) que estudassem o mapa de uma região que não conheciam e elaborassem uma rota entre dois pontos dessa área. Essa rota foi seguida logo depois, sendo que os participantes foram avaliados em relação à distância percorrida e ao desvio da rota originalmente elaborada. Foram também submetidos a tarefas de montar quebra-cabeças, a testes de rotação mental e de habilidades lingüísticas, desenho e questionários que avaliaram seu quociente de sistematização e exploraram como era seu ambiente de desenvolvimento e seu comportamento espacial. Finalmente, foi feita a imagem das mãos, para avaliação da Razão 2D:4D. Entre os resultados encontrados, destacamos a diferença nas estratégias usadas por homens e mulheres nas tarefas de memorização das rotas, com as mulheres usando mais pontos de referência relativos do que os homens; além disso, conforme esperávamos, mas contrariando a literatura, homens e mulheres desviaram de maneira equivalente da rota originalmente planejada. Também foram encontradas associações entre a auto-avaliação do senso de direção dos participantes e quociente de Sistematização, ambiente de desenvolvimento e Razão 2D:4D (essa última, só para as mulheres). Participantes que cresceram em ambientes que os estimularam mais ou com maior quociente de Sistematização se auto-avaliaram como tendo um senso de direção melhor. O mesmo ocorreu com mulheres cuja Razão 2D:4D foi mais baixa, indicando maior exposição a hormônios masculinos durante a sua gestação. Pelos resultados encontrados na presente pesquisa, podemos supor que o fato dos participantes terem elaborado as rotas pode ter permitido que eles criassem um percurso que se adaptasse às suas estratégias de memorização. Isso permitiu que a diferença encontrada na literatura entre homens e mulheres quanto ao desempenho nessa tarefa deixasse de existir / The navigation skills and strategies for memorizing routes, studied in the area of spatial cognition, are matters of extreme importance that are attracting growing interest from psychologists, ethologists, biologists, geographers and engineers. This study aimed to test whether the results found in the literature would remain in a naturalistic context in which the participants could plan the route to be followed. In general, the researchers draw routes for participants and interfere whenever a deviation occurs. In this study, we also tried to evaluate whether there was association of performance on this task with features that, according to the literature, influence performance on spatial tasks: mental rotation tasks, strategies for memorizing the route, history of development, systematization quotient and 2D : 4D ratio, an indicator of exposure to androgens during pregnancy. The procedure consisted of asking participants (11 men, 13 women) to study a map of an unfamiliar area and to plan a route between two points in this area. This route was followed soon after, and participants were evaluated for the distance traveled and the deviation of the planned route. They also solved puzzles, tests of mental rotation and language, made a drawing of the research area and answered questionnaires that assessed their systematization style and their developmental environment and spatial behavior. Finally, their hands were photographed to evaluate the 2D:4D ratio. Among the findings, we highlight the difference in the strategies used by men and women in the tasks of memorizing routes, with women using more reference points than men. In addition, as expected, but contrary to the literature, both men and women deviated equally from the route originally planned. We found correlations between self-assessment of participants\' sense of direction and Systematization Quotient, developmental environment and 2D:4D ratio (the last result was found only for women). Participants who grew up in environments that encouraged more autonomy and who had higher Systematization Quotient evaluated themselves as having better sense of direction. The same was true for women whose 2D:4D ratio was lower, indicating greater exposure to male hormones during pregnancy. Based on the results found in our study, we assume that planning their own routes may have favored participants´ memory strategies, reducing the sex difference generally found in the literature on spatial performance

As habilidades de navegação e as estratégias de memorização de rotas, temas estudados na área de Cognição Espacial, são assuntos de extrema importância que vem atraindo interesse crescente por parte de psicólogos, etólogos, biólogos, geógrafos e engenheiros. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo testar se os resultados encontrados na literatura se manteriam num contexto naturalístico em que os participantes elaborassem a rota a ser seguida e pudessem realizá-la sem a interferência do pesquisador. Em geral, os pesquisadores elaboram rotas para os participantes e interferem no percurso executado sempre que ocorre um desvio. Na presente pesquisa, também procuramos avaliar se haveria associação do desempenho nessa tarefa com características que, de acordo com a literatura, influenciam o desempenho em tarefas espaciais: tarefas de rotação mental, estratégias de memorização da rota, história de desenvolvimento, quociente de sistematização e razão 2D:4D, um indicador da exposição a andrógenos durante a gestação. O procedimento consistiu em solicitar aos participantes (11 homens, 13 mulheres) que estudassem o mapa de uma região que não conheciam e elaborassem uma rota entre dois pontos dessa área. Essa rota foi seguida logo depois, sendo que os participantes foram avaliados em relação à distância percorrida e ao desvio da rota originalmente elaborada. Foram também submetidos a tarefas de montar quebra-cabeças, a testes de rotação mental e de habilidades lingüísticas, desenho e questionários que avaliaram seu quociente de sistematização e exploraram como era seu ambiente de desenvolvimento e seu comportamento espacial. Finalmente, foi feita a imagem das mãos, para avaliação da Razão 2D:4D. Entre os resultados encontrados, destacamos a diferença nas estratégias usadas por homens e mulheres nas tarefas de memorização das rotas, com as mulheres usando mais pontos de referência relativos do que os homens; além disso, conforme esperávamos, mas contrariando a literatura, homens e mulheres desviaram de maneira equivalente da rota originalmente planejada. Também foram encontradas associações entre a auto-avaliação do senso de direção dos participantes e quociente de Sistematização, ambiente de desenvolvimento e Razão 2D:4D (essa última, só para as mulheres). Participantes que cresceram em ambientes que os estimularam mais ou com maior quociente de Sistematização se auto-avaliaram como tendo um senso de direção melhor. O mesmo ocorreu com mulheres cuja Razão 2D:4D foi mais baixa, indicando maior exposição a hormônios masculinos durante a sua gestação. Pelos resultados encontrados na presente pesquisa, podemos supor que o fato dos participantes terem elaborado as rotas pode ter permitido que eles criassem um percurso que se adaptasse às suas estratégias de memorização. Isso permitiu que a diferença encontrada na literatura entre homens e mulheres quanto ao desempenho nessa tarefa deixasse de existir / The navigation skills and strategies for memorizing routes, studied in the area of spatial cognition, are matters of extreme importance that are attracting growing interest from psychologists, ethologists, biologists, geographers and engineers. This study aimed to test whether the results found in the literature would remain in a naturalistic context in which the participants could plan the route to be followed. In general, the researchers draw routes for participants and interfere whenever a deviation occurs. In this study, we also tried to evaluate whether there was association of performance on this task with features that, according to the literature, influence performance on spatial tasks: mental rotation tasks, strategies for memorizing the route, history of development, systematization quotient and 2D : 4D ratio, an indicator of exposure to androgens during pregnancy. The procedure consisted of asking participants (11 men, 13 women) to study a map of an unfamiliar area and to plan a route between two points in this area. This route was followed soon after, and participants were evaluated for the distance traveled and the deviation of the planned route. They also solved puzzles, tests of mental rotation and language, made a drawing of the research area and answered questionnaires that assessed their systematization style and their developmental environment and spatial behavior. Finally, their hands were photographed to evaluate the 2D:4D ratio. Among the findings, we highlight the difference in the strategies used by men and women in the tasks of memorizing routes, with women using more reference points than men. In addition, as expected, but contrary to the literature, both men and women deviated equally from the route originally planned. We found correlations between self-assessment of participants\' sense of direction and Systematization Quotient, developmental environment and 2D:4D ratio (the last result was found only for women). Participants who grew up in environments that encouraged more autonomy and who had higher Systematization Quotient evaluated themselves as having better sense of direction. The same was true for women whose 2D:4D ratio was lower, indicating greater exposure to male hormones during pregnancy. Based on the results found in our study, we assume that planning their own routes may have favored participants´ memory strategies, reducing the sex difference generally found in the literature on spatial performance

Darbo tikslas – atskleisti figūrų, pateikiamų vienu metu ir nuosekliai, sukimo mintyse ypatumus naudojant tapatumo įvertinimo užduotį. Tiriamieji (32 studentai) atliko tapatumo vertinimo užduotį, kur jiems vienu metu bei nuosekliai (arba atvirkštine tvarka) buvo pateikiamos vienodų arba skirtingų netaisyklingų daugiakampių poros. Stimulai buvo rodomi 100ms vienalaikio pateikimo atveju, esant nuosekliam pateikimui 50ms ir 50ms. Tiriamieji turėjo atsakyti, ar figūros vienodos (nepaisant pasukimo kampo), ar skirtingos. Buvo matuojamas reakcijos laikas bei teisingų atsakymų skaičius. Nustatyta, kad nepasuktos viena kitos atžvilgiu vienodos figūros atpažįstamos tiksliau bei greičiau nei pasuktos bet kokiu kampu. Tiek vienalaikio, tiek nuoseklaus figūrų pateikimo atveju tiesinė reakcijos laiko priklausomybė nuo figūrų tarpusavio pasukimo kampo nenustatyta. Tiek vienodos, tiek skirtingos figūros nuoseklaus pateikimo atveju atpažįstamos tiksliau nei vienalaikio, o reakcijos laikas, vertinant tiek vienodas, tiek skirtingas figūras, trumpesnis vienalaikio pateikimo atveju nei nuoseklaus. Vyrų ir moterų vienodų figūrų atpažinimo tikslumas nesiskiria, bet vyrų reakcijos laikas trumpesnis nei moterų. / The purpose of this study was to examine mental rotation of simultaneously and successively presented figures. 32 students performed same – different task in which the pairs of the same or different irregular polygons were presented simultaneously and successively or vice versa. Stimuli were presented briefly – for 100 ms when presented simultaneously and 50 ms and 50 ms when presented successively. The subjects had to answer whether the two figures were the same or different. Response time and performance accuracy were recorded. The results of the experiment showed that not rotated figures were identified faster and more accurately than those rotated at any angle. The increase in reaction time as a linear function of the angle of rotation was not found (either under simultaneous presentation or under successive one).The same figures as well as the different ones were identified more accurately when presented successively than simultaneously and the response time was shorter under simultaneous presentation than under successive one. The accuracy of men and women did not differ, but men outperformed women by response time.

Mental images are unique mental representations and the depictive view in the imagery debate states that mental images have similar spatial structures as their corresponding external object. The propositional view, however, contends that beliefs about the external world influence a mental image – also known as the cognitive penetrability theory –, therefore mental images cannot be described in visual terms. People with self-described aphantasia, those considered lacking visual mental images, offer a new opportunity to approach this issue. The current study employed the mental rotation task (MRT), where a three-dimensional object needs to be mentally aligned with another one that is rotated to a different angular position. To test the effects of beliefs on mental images, different instruction conditions were used on the MRT. Twenty-seven participants (21 females, mean age 47 years) with self-described aphantasia completed an online experiment, consisting of the MRT, the Object-Spatial Imagery Questionnaire (OSIQ), and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). While participants scored low on the VVIQ and higher on the spatial items than on the object items of the OSIQ, the key finding was that increasing reaction time with increasing angular disparity on the MRT was not influenced by different instruction types. This suggests that the theory of cognitive penetrability is not applicable on mental rotation in aphantasia, highlighting the importance to revise how mental images (or the lack of them) are understood and described.