Functional Neuroanatomy of Mental Rotation Performance

Mental rotation is an important part of human spatial cognition. In the last decade a growing number of brain imaging studies have been undertaken to uncover the neural underpinnings of mental rotation. These studies demonstrated that several brain areas are involved in the control of mental rotation. In this chapter we will summarize these. Although the reviewed studies differ in terms of used stimuli, mental rotation procedure, or brain imaging method, there is consistency for the core regions, which are involved in mental rotation (superior parietal lobe and the intraparietal sulcus). However, frontal, temporal, and occipital areas are also included into mental rotation processes depending on various aspects including used cognitive strategy, task difficulty, measuring protocol, or concentration of sexual hormones.