Mental Rotations In Different Tasks, Planes And Body Positions And Their Correlations With Flight Illusion Of Pilots

High-level spatial ability is needed in a lot of special occupations especially in flight. It is commonsense that the ability of spatial cognition is indispensable to a pilot. The study on spatial ability plays an important role in aerospace psychology.Spatial ability, the vital part of intelligence structure, is mostly composed of two factors: spatial visualization and spatial orientation. Visuospatial image, the essence of spatial intelligence, is of great value in the selection of personnel and the evaluation of performance.Visual imagery can be transferred in many ways, and the most typical way is mental rotation. The mental rotation test, which is based on imagery, is one of the most representative means in study on visuospatial image, and has been applied to the selection of pilot.Shepard and Melzler began to study on mental rotation in the 1970s. They proved the existence of mental rotation with RT and error rate by the means of behavioural study. According to their traditional mental rotation theories, there must be an obvious linear function relationship between the rotation angles of stimulus pictures and RT.Mental imagery tasks require a subjective reference frame (RF) within which the task is performed. In principle, there are two types of RFs, the viewer-relative or egocentric RF, and the exocentric or allocentric RF. The latter involves the object-relative or intrinsic RF and the environmental RF, such as the gravitational RF, which is crucial for perceiving orientation, guiding movements and posture control.There are two tasks about mental rotation: viewer rotation and array rotation. Different RPs are used in different rotations. The former is the viewer-relative or egocentric RP, and the latter is the exocentric or allocentric RP. Several studies have shown an advantage in RT and accuracy for updating during imagined self-rotation versus imagined rotation of an array of objects or a single object. Carpenter and Proffitt tested rotations in alternative planes and found the viewer rotation advantage only occurred in the transverse plane. Mast et al. investigated three body positions (upright, supine, and horizontal) on performance in four distinct types of mental imagery processing and found that not all processes were affected in the same way. They attribute that to the misalignment or conflict between retinal and gravitational RFs in different body positions.Shiffrar and Shepard found in their rotation studies that performance was superior when the axes of the object, rotation, and gravitational vertical were aligned.As we know, human do not always maintain an upright body position when they are engaged in visual cognitive tasks. For example, pilots are often exposed to rather complex acceleration profiles, but they still need to be able to accurately operate their instruments.The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of tasks, rotation planes, and body positions on mental rotation among pilots and to find a condition in which the rotation RT is better correlated with the level of flight illusion so that it may be applied to predicting or reducing the level of flight illusion during selection or training of pilots. There are three parts in this study:Part 1: Six transverse mental rotations under different conditions composed of two tasks (viewer rotation and array rotation) and three body positions (upright, horizontal, and lateral) were conducted among 38 healthy male fighter pilots. RTs were measured and compared under six-condition matrix, aiming at exploring the impact of tasks and body positions on transverse mental rotation.Part 2:38 male pilots were tested under six horizontal rotation conditions consist of 2 tasks (viewer rotation and array rotation) and 3 rotation planes (the transverse plane, the sagittal plane, and the coronal plane). RTs of mental rotations in the six different conditions were compared to explore the impact of tasks and rotation planes on horizontal rotation.Part 3: The levels of flight illusion of 38 pilot subjects were calculated. The correlations between illusion levels and mean RTs of different rotations were analyzed to find a condition in which the mental rotation is well correlated with the level of flight illusion.The main results are as follows:1. Better performances were made in viewer task than in array task under upright body positions. No significant interaction between tasks and body positions is found. The RT of upright rotation is shorter than the horizontal rotation and the lateral rotation.2. The RT of viewer rotation was shorter than that of array rotation in every plane, whereas three rotation planes didn't have any influence on the RTs of horizontal rotations. We found no significant interaction between tasks. and rotation planes.3. The levels of flight illusion have an effect on the RT in several conditions, especially in the transverse plane and viewer task. The transverse upright viewer rotation is the only condition in which the RT and illusion level correlate significantly.Conclusion:1. Tasks and body positions do have significant influences on mental rotation in pilots, while rotation planes didn't. The lateral mental rotation is more difficult than the rotations under other two body positions.2. The viewer rotation advantage of mental rotation exists not only under three different body positions but also in three planes including the sagittal plane and coronal plane. This indicates the pilots have superior spatial abilities.3. A positive correlation between the level of flight illusion and RT of the...