The relationship between body mass index and mental rotation in active and inactive female students of Urmia city

Dissertation for Master's Degree in Physical Education

Abstract

In recent developmental research, growth throughout life has been investigated. Motor development and cognitive development are two different categories, but they interact with each other. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index and mental rotation in active and inactive female students of Urmia city. In this descriptive-correlation study, 200 female students of Urmia city (100 active and 100 inactive) participated voluntarily. The tools used included Shefard and Metzler's mental rotation questionnaire (1978), a digital scale, and a measuring stick. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, eta correlation coefficient, chi-square test, independent t-test and Spss 18.  

The results of eta coefficient showed that there is no significant relationship between body mass index and mental rotation in active students (p>0.05). But there is a significant relationship between body mass index and mental rotation in inactive students (p<0.05). In general, the results of chi-square test also show that active and inactive girls do not have significant differences in terms of body mass index (p>0.05). And the independent t-test shows that there is a significant difference between active and inactive students in mental rotation (p<0.05)).

Key words: mental rotation, body mass index, active, inactive

Introduction

Growth during life is multidimensional. Motor development[1] has been investigated along with cognitive development[2] and it has been shown that these two developments interact with each other. The effects of motor development on cognitive development and vice versa can be very important for human development planning. During life and with increasing age, some of the motor functions of a person become insufficient and deteriorate, which has various reasons, including muscle wasting, osteoporosis, severe injuries in some tissues, diseases and several other factors.

Perceptual-motor expression [3] is one of the most common terms used in motor development and in general in education. Perceptual-motor concept refers to those motor activities of children whose main purpose is to improve cognitive or academic skills. In perceptual-motor programs, much effort is made to supplement or replace academic activities with motor activities so that academic activities such as reading, writing and problem solving progress. Therefore, by practicing and using perceptual-motor factors, the cognitive sub-factors in people can be influenced directly and indirectly. Visual perception[4], spatial awareness[5], body awareness[6] and orientation[7] are all perceptual-motor factors that affect cognition (Hasan Khalji[8] 1384). Spatial ability [9] is a sub-factor for fluid intelligence [10], if it is not used continuously, it decreases in middle age and especially in old age and severely interferes with daily human activities, and natural walking in the environment, visualizing objects around the person and can cause severe injuries. To the extent that the reason for some driving accidents is related to the lack of cognitive factors (McCoby and Jacklin [11], 1974)

Spatial abilities are cognitive processes consisting of visualization [12], position recognition and mental rotation [13] (Scott [14], 1999). Among these factors, mental rotation, that is, the ability to imagine how a rotated object would be to recognize the position, compared to what is actually presented (Makubi and Jacklin, 1974). It is an important and studied factor.

Adolescence is one of the most important and critical periods of growth and development in human life and is considered as the period of transition from childhood to adulthood in such a way that the last period of rapid growth and metabolism occurs during these years. Thinness and obesity are also major problems of this period. Obesity in childhood and adolescence is important not only because of premature physical and mental complications, but also because of the increase in obesity in adulthood, mortality and its heavy economic burden on society (Lino Peterson [15], 1985). Rapid changes in the way of life cause a change in the food pattern and physical activities.The rapid changes in the way of life have caused a change in the food pattern and physical activities of children and adolescents and have put them at risk of overweight and obesity. This is a problem especially in developing countries. Iran's population is increasing rapidly. Obesity during childhood and adolescence, in addition to acute symptoms, puts a person at risk of many chronic symptoms. Blood fat disorders, insulin resistance, and predisposes a person to type 2 diabetes. It is childhood obesity. Various studies have shown that the risk factors of non-communicable diseases in childhood are related to its level in adulthood, and the level of serum fat in childhood and adolescence can be especially important in the occurrence of diseases in adulthood. Cardiovascular diseases have long-term effects due to individual and racial differences in metabolism in different societies. Studies on fat and other blood biochemical factors of obese children and adolescents. It is done.

1-2 statement of the problem

What is certain is that people's abilities decrease with age. These abilities, both motor and cognitive, can be deficient at different levels and for different reasons. It seems that the speed of mental rotation decreases with age. However, if enough attention is paid to time, accuracy and accuracy, reaction time [16] should not be considered as an effective factor, reaction time may be an important element applied in real world situations such as walking along the movement environment. A few studies have investigated the positive effect of movement (Berg, Herzog, and Hunt [17], 1982). Spatial ability is an important part of fluid intelligence. Mental rotation is a key component of spatial ability. Different researchers have provided different definitions of spatial abilities, but the definition that most researchers agree on (Devan and Jacobi [18], 1999; Cohen et al. [19] 1996) is the definition of Lin and Peterson. They have divided spatial abilities into three categories:

A- Spatial perception [20]; B- mental rotation; C- Spatial imaging (Levin, Taylor and Langrock [21], 1999).

a) Spatial perception: the ability to infer the direction of an object by considering the direction of the person himself.

b) Mental rotation: the ability to visualize the rotation of a visual stimulus [22] or based on the definition of Just and Carpenter [23] ( Comp [24], 2000) is the ability to produce a mental representation [25] of a two- or three-dimensional structure and then evaluate the characteristics of that representation or change the mental rotation ability.

c) Spatial imaging is a bit more complicated and consists of the ability to manipulate the presented spatial information (Divan and Jacobi, 1990).

Spatial ability plays a big role in Our ability to move in the surrounding environment prepares our movement and reciprocal relationships with objects in the world. The ability to mentally rotate helps people to avoid life hazards/obstacles and move in their environments efficiently (Scott, 1999). Effective and quick use of spatial skills may even help prevent some injuries due to falls, pedestrian accidents, and traffic accidents (Mocoby and Jacqueline, 1974).

Although many factors such as the use of medicine [26], depression [27], reduction of motor ability can cause such accidents for people, but the reduction of cognitive skills such as spatial ability may also be a reason for it. Statistics show that safe spatial abilities play an important role in driving accidents. This argument suggests that elderly people may benefit from increased spatial rotation performance to prevent accidents. Few researches have been done on such programs. (Makubi & Jacqueline, 1974).

Adolescence is one of the most important and critical periods of growth and development in human life, and it is considered as the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, in such a way that the last period of rapid growth and metabolism occurs during these years. Thinness and obesity are also major problems of this period. Obesity in childhood and adolescence is important not only because of premature physical and mental complications, but also because of the increase in obesity in adulthood, mortality and its heavy economic burden on society (Linopterson, 1985). Cognitive abilities cannot be separated from basic motor abilities (Khorazi and Hejazi [28], 1378). The relationship between motor development and cognitive development has been investigated in childhood as well as in the elderly.