ROLE OF PROXIMITY AND SPATIAL POSITION OF STIMULUS CHARACTERISTICS DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL ROTATION CAPACITIES

This paper considers the role of stimulus characteristics on the devel opment of mental rotation capacities. Experiment 1 was designed to tes t the existence of kinetic imagery in four, five and six-year-old chil dren. Reaction times were found to be linearly dependent on the angula r discrepancy between the presented stimuli, as in classical mental ro tation studies, but errors suggested that the tested children processe d the information in terms of whether the stimulus characteristics bel onged to the same or different spatial hemifield. Experiment 2 confirm ed that at this age, stimulus detail proximity is a determining factor of child responses, so particular attention should be paid to the exp erimental procedure.