A Dissociation Between Two Classes of Spatial Abilities in Elementary School Children

This study investigates whether the abilities to mentally manipulate an imagined object (object manipulation abilities) and the abilities to coordinate perspectives of mental movement of the imagined self (egocentric perspective transformation abilities) are distinct classes of spatial abilities in elementary school children. We developed a paper- and-pencil test with measures of mental rotations and folding and a wide range of perspective taking tasks. 240 fourth graders were tested. By comparing different models in a confirmatory factor analysis, we found that there is a partial dissociation between object manipulation spatial abilities and perspective transformation abilities. The results specify the degree of overlap, and sex differences concerning the measures but not the underlying constructs.