Comparing Spatial Training Pathways: Mental Rotation, Perspective Taking, and Their Links to Mathematics

Spatial skills have a well-established link with success in mathematics, with spatial training showing causal relations with mathematics performance. However, questions remain about the specificity of spatial training pathways. That is, whether spatial training has a domain-general impact on mathematics or if the pathways to improvement are targeted. In this classroom-based study, 423 Grade 7 and 8 students (mean age = 12 years, 11 months) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: mental rotation training, perspective taking training, fluid reasoning training (active control), or a business-as-usual control. Participants in the training conditions completed 10 minutes of digital training at the beginning of their mathematics lessons three times a week for five weeks. The results revealed that the training conditions each improved their intended skill but the effects of the training on mathematics performance varied. Mental rotation training improved performance in geometry-measurement and number-algebra relative to the business-as-usual controls, but not word problems. Perspective taking training improved all mathematics domains, including a greater improvement in geometry-measurement relative to the mental rotation condition. Fluid reasoning did not improve mathematics performance relative to the control condition. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the specific relations between spatial skills training and mathematics performance.