Enhancement of Mental Rotation Abilities and Its Effect on Anatomy Learning

BACKGROUND: Mental rotation (MR) is improved through practice and high MR ability is correlated to success in anatomy learning. PURPOSES: We investigated the effects of improving the MR ability on the Vandenberg and Kuse MR test performance and the consequences on learning functional human anatomy. METHODS: Forty-eight students were assigned into three groups: MR group (16 students attending functional anatomy course and MR training), anatomy group (16 students attending the same functional anatomy course), and the control group (n = 16). Instead of MR training, the latter 2 groups were engaged in physical activities for an equivalent time, and the control group did not attend anatomy course. RESULTS: MR group performed better than the two others in the MR test and better than the anatomy group in the anatomy test. CONCLUSIONS: The MR training sessions were found to improve MR test performance and were further transferred to anatomy learning.