Isomorphic 2D/3D Objects and Saccadic Characteristics in Mental Rotation

Mental rotation (MR) is an important aspect of cognitive processing in gaming since transformation and manipulation of visuospatial information are necessary in order to execute a gaming task. This study provides insights on saccadic characteristics in gaming task performance that involves 2D and 3D isomorphic objects with varying angular disparity. Healthy participants (N = 60) performed MR gaming task. Each participant was tested individually in an acoustic treated lab environment. Gaze behavior data of all participants were recorded during task execution and analyzed to find the changes in spatiotemporal characteristics of saccades associated with the variation in angular disparity and dimensionality. There were four groups with unique combination of angular disparity and dimensionality, each with fifteen participants randomly assigned. Results indicate that the spatial characteristics of the object affect the temporal aspect of saccade (duration), whereas the spatial aspect of the saccade (amplitude) is influenced by the objects’ dimension. A longer saccade duration indicates a prolonged suppression of spatial information processing during the MR tasks with objects at convex range angular disparities. Therefore, the MR tasks with convex angular disparity become more complex to process compared to the tasks with reflex angular disparity. MR process is faster and more accurate with 3D objects compared to the 2D objects. There is an interaction between angular disparity and dimensionality in terms of mental demand, such that the MR processing with 2D objects in reflex angular disparity was more mental demanding than that of convex angular disparity; however, this trend was absent in case of 3D objects. Hence, during the MR task, the longer saccade duration implies that the tasks with convex angular disparities become comparatively more challenging. Also, the lower saccadic amplitude for 2D objects indicates difficulties in processing due to deficient visual features. The findings could help in framing the computer-based game (or videogame) concerning MR abilities for training or rehabilitation purposes.