Role of Motor Skills in Mental Rotation Abilities from Infancy to Preschool Age: A Longitudinal Study

The present study investigated the developmental trajectory of MR from infancy to preschool age and the potentially enduring role of factors that influence MR, such as self-producedlocomotion. We tested 9–month–old crawling and non-crawling infants (N = 24; 14 males)with a habituation MR paradigm and the same children at 4.6 to 6 years with an age-adapted MR task and a motor test. We revealed significant and highly positive correlations between infants’ and preschoolers’ MR performances and between crawling status and MR in preschoolers. Preschoolers’ MR also correlated significantly with their concurrent motor skills. Our findings suggest a stable trajectory of MR during the first years of life with early and later motor experiences as potential driving factors.