A psychobiological exploration of mental rotation in three groups of children: Control, learning disabled, and Down syndrome

Abstract

The present study investigated anomalous hemispheric processing for language and its impact on spatial task performance. Mental rotation and dichotic listening tasks were administered to three groups of children: control (C), learning disabled (LD), and Down syndrome (DS). Significant differences were found in reaction time and accuracy measures in mental rotation. Although the DS group lacked a systematic reaction time function, all three groups produced similar accuracy functions: each group appeared to demonstrate difficulty at equivalent angular disorientations. Dichotic listening resulted in performance differences only when the DS group was compared to the C and LD groups: discrepant language processing was not demonstrated between the C and LD groups. Conclusions could not be reached regarding the impact of language lateralization on spatial task performance. Inconsistencies of neuropsychological measurements are discussed; the topic of mental rotation is explored in depth. Generalizations regarding performance outcomes are limited to a behavioral level.