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Clinical Trial
. 2012;7(10):e48620.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048620. Epub 2012 Oct 30.

Mental rotation performance in male soccer players

Petra Jansen  1 , Jennifer Lehmann, Jessica Van Doren
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Mental rotation performance in male soccer players

Petra Jansen et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

It is the main goal of this study to investigate the visual-spatial cognition in male soccer players. Forty males (20 soccer players and 20 non-athletes) solved a chronometric mental rotation task with both cubed and embodied figures (human figures, body postures). The results confirm previous results that all participants had a lower mental rotation speed for cube figures compared to embodied figures and a higher error rate for cube figures, but only at angular disparities greater than 90°. It is a new finding that soccer-players showed a faster reaction time for embodied stimuli. Because rotation speed did not differ between soccer-players and non-athletes this finding cannot be attributed to the mental rotation process itself but instead to differences in one of the following processes which are involved in a mental rotation task: the encoding process, the maintanence of readiness, or the motor process. The results are discussed against the background of the influence on longterm physical activity on mental rotation and the context of embodied cognition.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Sample items of the chronometrical mental rotations tasks (cube figures, human figures, body postures).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Reaction time dependent on stimulus type and angular disparity (mean, standard deviation).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Error rate dependent on stimulus type and angular disparity (mean, standard deviation).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Reaction time at an angular disparity of 0° dependent on stimulus type and angular disparity (mean, standard deviation).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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