The Role of Motor Skills in the Development of Mental Rotation Abilities from Infancy to Preschool Age

Abstract

From the earliest months of life, infants are captivated by objects, exploring them from multiple perspectives, grasping toys, chasing rolling balls, and anticipating their paths (Örnkloo & von Hofsten, 2007). These behaviours illustrate the emergence of visuospatial understanding and the formation of mental representations of objects and their movement. A foundational visuospatial process underlying these abilities is mental rotation (MR), defined as the capacity to mentally transform and manipulate objects in space (Linn & Petersen, 1985). Given MR’s pervasive role in everyday activities and its predictive power for mathematical thinking and later academic success (Wai et al., 2009), understanding its developmental course is both scientifically significant and practically valuable.

Despite MR’s importance, the development trajectory of three-dimensional mental rotation (3D-MR) remains poorly understood. While cross-sectional studies demonstrate the emergence of 3D-MR in infants (Johnson & Moore, 2020) and its further development in preschoolers (Frick et al., 2013a), longitudinal investigations tracing its continuity across these two early stages are scarce. This gap is particularly surprising as the preschool years are a critical period for preparing children for formal schooling. Although infant studies highlight close links between motor development and 3D-MR (Schwarzer et al., 2013b), it remains unclear whether these early motor experiences (such as self-produced locomotion) have lasting predictive relations with 3D-MR into the preschool years. Additionally, it remains unclear whether concurrent links between motor skills and 3D-MR are also present in preschool children. Moreover, visuospatial processing encompasses intra-object processing (such as MR) and inter-object processing (such as prediction of object trajectories), both relying on the construction and transformation of spatial representations (Newcombe et al., 2013). Yet these two processes have been studied in isolation, leaving their developmental interrelations unexamined.

This dissertation provides a comprehensive investigation of 3D-MR development from infancy (9 months) to preschool ages (4-6 years), integrating longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches across three empirical studies employing age- appropriate yet conceptually comparable 3D-MR tasks. Study 1 examined the longitudinal developmental trajectory of 3D-MR from infancy to preschool age (using screen-based tasks) and investigated the role of early motor experience. Results revealed infants who demonstrated stronger 3D-MR performance at 9 months of age, particularly those who had acquired crawling ability, also showed better 3D-MR performance at 4 to 6 years of age, providing potentially the first evidence for a longitudinal link between 3D-MR abilities across these developmental stages and highlighting the long-term relevance of early self-produced locomotion. Study 2 explored the relationship between motor skills and 3D-MR (employing a novel block-based 3D-MR task) during the preschool years using a cross-sectional design. The study revealed a developmentally nuanced pattern: associations between 3D-MR and gross motor skills were observed in younger preschoolers (4.6–5.5 years), whereas associations with fine motor skills emerged only in older preschoolers (5.6–6.5 years). These findings suggest a developmental shift in the motor foundations supporting spatial transformation abilities during early childhood. Study 3, explored the relationship between intra-object and inter-object processing during infancy. Although nodirect association between prediction ability and 3D-MR was observed, likely reflecting differences in task demands and representational requirements, self-produced locomotion was associated with infants’ visual prediction abilities. This finding converges with Study 1 and highlights the potential role of locomotor experience in early visuospatial development, while opening avenues for future research.

Beyond its empirical contributions, this dissertation makes a significant methodological advance by developing age-appropriate and conceptually comparable 3D-MR tasks that can be used across infancy and preschool age. Notably, these tasks are one of the first 3D-MR paradigms, to demonstrate reliable angular disparity effects in preschool-aged children using both screen-based and tangible stimuli.

Taken together, these findings provide a developmentally grounded account of 3D-MR in early years of life. By demonstrating longitudinal continuity in 3D-MR, enduring links with self-produced locomotion, motor proficiency, and interplay of perception and action, the present work offers compelling support for embodied theories of spatial cognition. Beyond advancing theoretical understanding, these findings have important implications for educational practice and early intervention. Given the well-established links between MR, STEM achievement, and broader academic success (Uttal et al., 2013), clarifying the perceptual-motor foundations of spatial thinking may inform developmentally sensitive strategies and targeted interventions to support spatial skill development, particularly for children at risk of delay, thereby promoting more equitable educational outcomes.