Authors: Hiroyuki Muto & Masayoshi Nagai (武藤拓之・永井聖剛)

Title: Mental rotation of cubes with a snake face: The role of the human-body analogy revisited
(蛇の顔が付けられたキューブの心的回転：身体への類推の役割を再考する)

Journal(書誌情報): Visual Cognition

doi: 10.1080/13506285.2020.1727598

論文URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13506285.2020.1727598

Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated repeatedly that the mental rotation of human-like objects can be performed more quickly than the mental rotation of abstract objects (a body analogy effect). According to existing accounts, the body analogy effect is mediated by projections of one’s own body axes onto objects (spatial embodiment), and the mental emulation of the observed body posture (motoric embodiment). To test whether motoric embodiment facilitates the mental rotation of human-like objects, we conducted an experiment using a snake-like object that had its own body axes but would be difficult to emulate. Twenty-four participants performed the mental rotation of snake-shaped cubes with or without a snake face as well as human-shaped cubes with or without a human face. Results showed that the presence of a face increased mental rotation speeds for both human-shaped and snake-shaped cubes, confirming both the human-body and snake analogy effects. More importantly, the snake analogy effect was equal to the human-body analogy effect. These findings contradict the motoric embodiment account and suggest that any object that can be regarded as a unit facilitates holistic mental rotation, which in turn leads to improved performance.

著者Contact先の email: h.muto[at]zm.commufa.jp([at]を@に置き換えてください) (武藤拓之)

日本語によるコメント: 心的回転の認知メカニズムに関する研究です。物体を人の身体に見立てること (身体への類推) によって心的回転の成績が向上することが知られていますが，本研究は物体を蛇の姿に見立てたときにも同程度の促進効果が生じることを明らかにしました。従来，身体への類推による促進効果の一因として，人の姿勢に対する内的な模倣のプロセスが関与していると考えられていましたが，模倣困難な蛇型の物体を用いても促進効果が減少しなかったことから，身体への類推の効果が必ずしも人の身体に特有のものではない可能性が示唆されました。（武藤）

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