Intentional Training in Two- vs. Three-Dimensional Spatial Environments to Enhance Spatial Cognition

Abstract Spatial cognition encompasses the ability to recognize dimensional properties of objects, individually and with respect to other objects. Studies demonstrate that intentional training in spatial cognitive tasks in two-dimensional environments can effectively improve spatial cognitive abilities. The increasing popularity of and access to virtual reality (VR) inspires the question of whether virtual training environments could equally or more effectively improve spatial cognitive abilities. Thirty-three participants (15 males, 18 females) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control, two-dimensional training, and three-dimensional training and completed a pre- and post-test separated by group-specific training. Reaction times and accuracy rates of completing Shepard-Metzler mental rotation tasks (MRT), cube rotation tasks (CRT), and verbal analogies tasks (VAT) were observed to compare the effectiveness of the training methods. The reaction time results demonstrated a significant improvement from pre- to post-test compared with control in the MRT and CRT in the two-dimensional (MRT: t = 2.663, p < 0.05; CRT: t = 1.668, p < 0.05) and three-dimensional (MRT: t = 1.557, p < 0.05; CRT: t = 1.006, p < 0.05) training groups. In the VAT, only the two-dimensional training group had significant improvement (VAT: t = 2.125, p < 0.05). The three-dimensional group did not have greater improvement in MRT and CRT than the two-dimensional group (p > 0.05), but did have greater improvement than control (p < 0.1). These results indicate that traditional two-dimensional and virtual three-dimensional training give equal improvement in spatial cognitive training outcomes.