A Meta-Analysis of the Relation Between Mental Rotation Ability and Math Achievement Público
Yhang, Eukyung (Spring 2018)
Abstract
There is a well-established relation between spatial reasoning abilities and math achievement (Mix & Cheng, 2012). However, research examining the association between mental rotation and math skills is relatively limited. In the current meta-analysis, I quantified the magnitude of the relation between mental rotation and math performance by synthesizing data from 19,870 participants across 59 articles. Furthermore, I examined the developmental trajectory of this association between early childhood and adulthood as well as the role of potential procedural variables (e.g., math task characteristics) in moderating its magnitude across development. The meta-analysis demonstrated that there is a moderate correlation between mental rotation and math performance (r = 0.30) that exhibits developmental continuity between the ages of 4 and 32 years. Additional analyses indicated that type of math task (e.g., geometry, arithmetic) and type of stimuli presented in the math task (i.e., symbolic, non-symbolic) significantly moderated the strength of the association, but moderators related to the mental rotation task (e.g., stimulus dimensionality) did not influence the magnitude of the correlation between mental rotation and math performance. The theoretical and educational implications of present findings are discussed within the context of the spatial development and math cognition literatures.
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Developmental Change…………………………………………………………………....2
Gender Differences……………………………………………………………………..…5
Task-level Variables………………………………………………………………………6
Current Research…………………………………………………………………………10
Method…………………………………………….……………………………………………..10
Inclusion Criteria………………………………………………………………………...10
Literature Search…………………………………………………………………………11
Data Extraction………………………………………………………………………..…12
Statistical Analysis…………………………………………………………………...…15
Results……………………………………………………………………………………………16
Moderator Analyses………………………….…………………………………………..16
Publication Bias……………………………………………………………………….…18
Discussion…………………………………………………….………………………………….18
Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….23
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….24
References…………………………………………………………………………………….….25
Tables……………………………………………………………………………………….........32
Table 1: Number of Effect Sizes (n), Number of Studies (k), Mean Weighted
Effect size (r) and Its 95% CI, of Study-Level Characteristics……………......................32
Table 2: Number of Effect Sizes (n), Number of Studies (k), Mean Weighted
Effect size (r) and Its 95% CI, of Task-Level Characteristics………............……….......33
Figures…………………………………………………………………………………………....34
Figure 1: Examples of mental rotation task items from:
(A) the Children’s Mental Transformation Task (CMTT; Levine et al., 1999), (B) the
Primary Mental Abilities-Space Relations task (PMA-SR; Thurstone & Thurstone, 1943),
and (C) the Vandenberg-Kuse Mental Rotation Test (VMRT; Vandenberg & Kuse,
1978)…………..………………………………………………………………………....34
Figure 2: Schematic illustrating the process used to identify articles
for inclusion in the meta-analysis and the number of records (n) reviewed at each
stage………………………………………………………………….......………....…....35
Figure 3: Bubble plot displaying the relation between mental rotation and math
performance as a function of mean sample age……………………………....………….36
Figure 4: Funnel plot of reported effect sizes as a function of their standard error……...37
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