Abstract

The aim of this work was to establish the physical features influencing the mental spatial rotation. The experiment was a computer task developed from "Cube Comparisons Test" (French, Ekstrom and Price, 1963). Subjects, 88 students in Psychology, were asked to decide if two cubes were consistent (the same) or inconsistent (different). Items differed in both degrees and axes of rotation needed to give right answers (positive or negative). Subjects' performance levels and response times to each item were computed. Results showed that: 1) item difficulty enlarges as both degree or number of axes of rotation increase, 2) perform levels are higher for males than for females and these differences are larger for more difficult items, 3) response time is slower for expected negative than for expected positive response items. Moreover, Rasch analysis indicated that some items difficulty is given by axes employed in mental rotations. Some interesting remarks on experimental data are discussed.