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A gamified approach to assessing mental rotation in virtual reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2024

Kristin Alicia Bartlett ,
Almudena Palacios-Ibáñez  and
Jorge Dorribo Camba
Kristin Alicia Bartlett*
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky, United States of America
Almudena Palacios-Ibáñez
Affiliation:
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Jorge Dorribo Camba
Affiliation:
Purdue University, United States of America
*
[email protected]

Abstract

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We present a new spatial skills assessment tool, the Virtual Reality Mental Rotation Assessment. Results suggest that the gamified immersive experience enabled increased levels of engagement and motivation and the instrument was likely not biased in favor or people with past virtual reality (VR) experience. Using VR did not appear to introduce additional problems beyond those present in a traditional spatial test, as moving one's body to change perspective did not correlate with improved performance. Our findings have implications for training and assessing spatial skills in engineering.

Keywords

spatial skillsmental rotationvirtual reality (VR)design educationvisualisation
Type
Design Education
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 4: DESIGN 2024 , May 2024 , pp. 2805 - 2814
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2024.

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