Elsevier

Acta Psychologica

Volume 102, Issues 2–3, September 1999, Pages 247-264
Acta Psychologica

The influence of spatial reference frames on imagined object- and viewer rotations

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-6918(98)00057-2Get rights and content

Abstract

The human visual system can represent an object's spatial structure with respect to multiple frames of reference. It can also utilize multiple reference frames to mentally transform such representations. Recent studies have shown that performance on some mental transformations is not equivalent: Imagined object rotations tend to be more difficult than imagined viewer rotations. We reviewed several related research domains to understand this discrepancy in terms of the different reference frames associated with each imagined movement. An examination of the mental rotation literature revealed that observers’ difficulties in predicting an object’s rotational outcome may stem from a general deficit with imagining the cohesive rotation of the object’s intrinsic frame. Such judgments are thus more reliant on supplementary information provided by other frames, such as the environmental frame. In contrast, as assessed in motor imagery and other studies, imagined rotations of the viewer’s relative frame are performed cohesively and are thus mostly immune to effects of other frames.

Introduction

There are multiple ways in which the human visual system can encode objects. An object can be specified relative to the observer, to the environment, to its own intrinsic structure or to other objects in the environment. Each instance requires the adoption of specific spatial frames of reference. In general, reference frames provide a structure for specifying an object’s spatial composition and position.

Spatial reference frames can also be utilized in multiple ways to transform objects in the imagination. For example, if an observer wanted to construe an object at a different orientation without actually performing any actions, she could try at least two mental operations, each of which requires the rotation of a different reference frame with respect to a given stationary frame. She could either picture the object turning to its new orientation (object-relative or intrinsic reference frame) or she could imagine moving herself to the viewpoint corresponding to the new orientation (egocentric or relative reference frame). Both of these processes have been implicated in human beings' ability to update objects across different viewpoints (e.g., Hummel, 1994, Shiffrar & Shepard, 1991, Simons & Wang, 1998, Tarr & Bülthoff, 1995, Willems & Wagemans, submitted); the latter also subserves our ability to take the perspectives of others (Piaget & Inhelder, 1967).

Despite the seeming importance of both of these processes, the majority of research has focused primarily on the first type: imagined object rotations. For example, the classic studies of Shepard and colleagues established that observers mentally rotate the axes of one object into congruence with those of another object in deciding whether their shapes are similar (e.g., Cooper, 1975, Shepard & Hurwitz, 1984). Other studies have examined observers' ability to predict the orientational outcome of single objects rotated about multiple axes (e.g., Paillard, 1991, Pani, 1993, Pani, 1997, Parsons, 1994). However, until recently, imagined rotations of the self have received less empirical consideration (e.g., Amorim & Stucchi, 1997, Pani & Dupree, 1994, Parsons, 1987a, Piaget & Inhelder, 1967).

The goal of this paper is to provide a more comprehensive account of the role of spatial reference frames in mental rotation. We review studies from several related research domains – mental rotation, object recognition, perspective-taking, and motor imagery – to examine effects of multiple reference frames on imagined transformations of the self and of objects. This approach is specifically intended to shed light on the recent finding of inferior object (versus viewer) rotation performance, as evidenced by longer reaction times and higher error rates (e.g., Amorim & Stucchi, 1997). We find that this discrepancy may be attributable to differences in the way the reference frames corresponding to each imagined rotation are transformed by the human cognitive system.

After a review of reference frames, the first main section of the paper focuses on factors affecting imagined object rotations. A recurring finding of the studies we reviewed is that imagining an object’s rotation is problematic when no information other than the object’s initial orientation is provided (e.g., Paillard, 1991, Pani, 1997, Parsons, 1994). This suggests a general deficit with imagining a cohesive rotation of the object’s intrinsic frame. For such tasks, observers are likely to depend on supplementary information from other frames, such as the environmental frame. As evidenced in the object recognition literature, imagined object rotations are further facilitated by view-specific encoding with respect to the relative frame (e.g., Bülthoff & Edelman, 1992, Simons & Wang, 1998).

The second main section of the paper focuses on factors affecting imagined viewer rotations. A review of several motor imagery studies (e.g., Pani & Dupree, 1994, Parsons, 1987a) indicates that imagined viewer rotations are less susceptible to misalignment with respect to the environmental frame, perhaps due to the inherently cohesive structure of the relative frame itself. We end with a review of research directly comparing imagined object- and viewer rotations (e.g., Piaget & Inhelder, 1967, Willems & Wagemans, submitted), which provides further evidence of differences in the ways the respective reference frames of each type of rotation are transformed.

Section snippets

Spatial frames of reference

We begin our review with a brief discussion of spatial reference frames. As mentioned above, imagining an object rotating to your current viewpoint or imagining yourself rotating around an object to a new viewpoint require the adoption of different reference frames. In the first section, we describe the principle frames involved in such movements. In the second section, we examine how the object and viewer frames move with respect to the environmental frame.

Factors affecting imagined object rotations

Two interdependent research domains have contributed to our understanding of the reference frames critical to imagined rotations of objects. A direct assessment of performance comes from the mental rotation literature itself, the initial goal of which was to establish the existence of analog transformations. Knowledge has also been obtained indirectly from the object recognition literature, which has utilized the mental rotation paradigm primarily to discern the nature of object representation.

Factors affecting imagined viewer rotations

Several research domains have contributed to our understanding of performance in imagined self-movement. Early developmental work focused on the problem of whether young children could take the perspective of others. More recent work in motor imagery has emphasized whether imagined movements of the self are analogous to corresponding physical movements. Finally, research comparing performance of multiple imagined rotations has focused on whether the human visual system treats all imagined

Conclusions

The goal of this paper was to examine the spatial reference frames relevant to imagined object and viewer rotations, in order to understand the relatively longer RTs and higher error rates found with object performance in recent studies. A critical factor to this result may be the type of task utilized in rotation comparison studies. Most studies have used tasks in which observers predict a rotational outcome, either of themselves or of an object (e.g., Piaget & Inhelder, 1967, Wraga, Creem &

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by NIMH grant no. MH11462 to the first author, and NIMH grant no. MH52640 to the third author. We wish to thank Dan Simons, Mike Tarr, Johan Wagemans, and one anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper.

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