Work

Spatial abilities in Down syndrome: a comparison of mental rotation and perspective taking

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction Mental rotation and spatial perspective taking are two key spatial abilities and are integral to one's everyday life. This study compared performance on these two abilities between adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) and typically developing (TD) children. Methods Twenty-three participants with DS and twenty-three TD children were matched using Raven's progressive matrices ability scores. Two experimental tasks measured each spatial ability, and combined scores were calculated for mental rotation and perspective-taking, respectively. Results Participants with DS did not differ significantly from their TD counterparts in perspective-taking. However, the groups differed significantly in mental rotation, with participants with DS performing more poorly than TD children. Despite this mean difference, the relation between non-verbal ability and each spatial ability was virtually the same for both groups. Discussion Our results supported dissociations between mental rotation and perspective-taking, as one showed a group difference, whereas the other did not. Further, possible strategic processing differences may help explain the group differences in mental rotation. Lastly, the similarities in developmental trajectory slopes between the two groups in mental rotation suggest that people with DS showed a delayed, rather than deviant, developmental pathway of mental rotation relative to TD children.

Source: Frontiers in Developmental Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fdpys.2026.1904887