Information Content in Mental Representations

of 3-D Objects

Pete Khooshabeh

Psychology

UC Santa Barbara

Date: Friday, Feb. 29, 2008
Place: Buchanan 1940
Time: 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm


Abstract:

I will discuss a project where we examined the information content of mental representations of three-dimensional objects. Participants performed a mental rotation task with the classic Shepard and Metzler (1971) figures. We compared conditions in which the figures were
monochromatic, a condition in which they were colored consistently, and a condition in which they were colored inconsistently. Color affected performance of participants with low spatial ability but not those with high spatial ability. This suggests that individuals with high spatial
ability have more schematic spatial mental representations whereas individuals with low spatial ability construct representations that include both visual and spatial information.

PETE KHOOSHABEH is a PhD candidate in the Cognitive and Perceptual Sciences Program at UC Santa Barbara. He received his Bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, studying Cognitive Science emphasizing both computational modeling and cognitive psychology. He has been the recipient of both an NSF IGERT traineeship in Interactive Digital Multimedia and, most recently, a Department of Homeland Security research fellowship. His current advisor is Professor Mary Hegarty.