Measurement of the Perceptual Rotation of Visual Stimuli

• Main Author: Stettler, Floyd W.
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1970
• Subjects: Child Psychology; Psychology
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/5681; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6728&context=etd

Apparatus for study of the phenomenon of rotation consisted of two rotating turntables constructed to receive disks for presenting varied visual stimuli. Turntables were graduated into 360 degrees for measurement of angular discrepancy in the task of visually matching rotational positions. Subjects from ages four through eleven attempted to match six compass positions for each of three designs--a boxlike house, a straight line, and Bender-Gestalt Figure No. 3. Errors of rotation were classed as either transpositional or nontranspositional, Transpositional error, involving reversal or mirroring of the directional aspect of the designs, largely disappeared by age six. Non-transpositional error declined rapidly between ages four and six, leveled off, then showed another significant decline at age nine. The three designs were readily conceptualized as to direction, showing no differences for inducing rotation. The error scores were minimally related to IQ and achievement. No correlation was found with rotation as measured by the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test. Groups at ages four, six, and eight were retested after one week, disclosing low reliabilities for non-transpositional error, though mean rotation error and standard deviation for the groups remained stable. Sixty-seven percent of four year olds showed instances of transposition, and as this source of error was scored as limited to fifty degrees and included in the composite score, the reliability for age four was raised from .52 to .96. A second study of children at ages four and five was conducted to verify the possibility of obtaining high reliability by combining both types of error. Utilizing some variations in methodology and designs, test-retest correlations over a two-week interval yielded a reliability of .82 for age four and .93 for age five. It was concluded that the method was applicable in assessing rotational error occurring on a perceptual-intuitive level, and that personal characteristics associated with perceptual-intuitive operations could be reliably measured at ages four and five.