Poster #10 - Whatcha looking at? Eye-tracking children’s mental rotation strategies

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Mental rotation (MR) is the ability to rotate an object in our mind without physically turning the object. No study to date has evaluated children’s cognitive strategies during mental rotation tasks using eye-tracking. Strategies include holistic, which is the process of mentally rotating an object as a whole, and piecemeal which is the process of mentally rotating an object as individual broken down pieces (Pruden et al., 2020).
This study is currently recruiting 150 children aged 3- to 6-years-old to: (Aim 1) identify, using eye tracking data, which strategy (i.e., holistic versus piecemeal) children are using to solve MR tasks; (Aim 2) assess whether there are age-related changes in children’s cognitive strategies for solving MR tasks; and (Aim 3) examine whether individual differences in children’s cognitive strategy use, controlling for age, are related to accuracy in solving MR problems.
Children will complete a 10-item, untimed MR task while having their eye-movements recorded with a Gazepoint eye tracker (see figure 1 for sample trial). Children will be asked to determine which small picture (right images) is the same as the big picture (left image). Both images on the right will be rotated at the same degree either at 30 degree, 90 degree, or 120degree, however one will be mirrored. Accuracy is determined by correctly choosing the image that is just rotated. Eye-tracking data including fixation counts, fixation durations, visit counts, and visit durations will be used to identify strategy use (see figure 2 for terminology definitions).
For Aim 1, a latent profile analysis will be used to determine the cognitive strategies, holistic or piecemeal, that children use. We predict children who use a holistic strategy will be identified by low fixation averages and visit counts. Children who use a piecemeal strategy will be identified as having high fixation averages and visit counts (Nazareth et al., 2019). For Aim 2, we will use a linear regression model to assess whether age predicts the use of a particular strategy. We predict that frequency and usage of particular strategies will vary across age, such that older children will be more likely to use holistic strategies and younger children will be more likely to use piecemeal strategies. Lastly, for Aim 3, we will use a linear regression model to evaluate whether individual differences in strategy use, regardless of age, predict accuracy in the MR task. We predict that those who use a holistic strategy, regardless of age, will be more accurate in solving MR problems.
We plan to have preliminary analysis completed prior to the conference date. These findings can enhance the current understanding of how spatial thinking develops throughout childhood to create effective interventions that can improve children’s MR abilities.

Authors

• Karinna Anne Rodriguez, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Yvonne Ralph, University of Texas at Tyler

• Oriana Pinto Corro

• Claudia Rey Ochoa

• Shannon Marie Pruden, Florida International University