Reference no: EM133471669

Mental rotation has been linked to the main motor cortex (M1) in various cognitive activities. The research by Eisenegger, Herwig, and Jäncke (2007) demonstrated that stimulating M1 during mental rotation tasks resulted in higher muscle-evoked potentials (MEPs), indicating increased excitability of M1 compared to baseline and other cognitive tasks. Alternative theories, however, claim that the observed gains were caused by task difficulty rather than specifically mental rotation. In an attempt to answer this, the current study examines whether solving difficult mathematical problems significantly increases M1 excitability more than Shepard figures' mental rotation. According to the proposed hypothesis, doing arithmetic problems will result in significantly lower MEP amplitudes when M1 is stimulated with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In order to shed light on M1's function in mental rotation processes, this paper will evaluate the mean MEP amplitudes for both circumstances using a two-tailed paired samples t-test.

Questions:

1. Which alternative theories/studies claimed that claim that the observed gains were caused by task difficulty rather than specifically mental rotation? Discuss.

2. Is it clear why further research is warranted and why the current investigation will be valuable in advancing our understanding of the problem?