Mental rotation tests have been extensively studied regarding item characteristics that affect difficulty, e.g., angular disparity, item dimensionality, and object complexity. In the present study, using the Vandenberg and Kuse (1978) paradigm, we applied a psychometric approach to examine whether complex skewed-axis rotation requires incremental processes that can be distinguished from simple cardinal-axis rotation. Participants (N = 372) completed a battery of cognitive tests, including a mental-rotation test requiring mental rotation of Shepard and Metzler type figures around a single cardinal axis or around two cardinal axes (resulting in a skewed-axis rotation). When comparing a nested-factor measurement model to a one-factor model, results showed that complex skewed-axis rotation is not identifiable as a nested specific factor. This suggests that the processes resulting in individual differences in mental rotation are either the same in both item types, or at least substantially correlated. Including spatial visualization tests and reasoning tests in a prediction model suggested that participants used spatial strategies over and above reasoning to solve the mental rotation items. These results generalize the findings of Just and Carpenter (1985) on simple cardinal-axis and complex skewed-axis rotation of cubes to more complex objects that allow more flexible mental rotations. It can be concluded that mental rotation represents a unitary ability. From an individual-differences perspective, this ability can be assessed equally with simple cardinal-axis and complex skewed-axis rotation items.

关于影响难度的项目特征，例如角度差异、项目维度和对象复杂性，已经对心理旋转测试进行了广泛的研究。在本研究中，使用 Vandenberg 和 Kuse (1978) 范式，我们应用心理测量方法来检查复杂的倾斜轴旋转是否需要可以与简单的基轴旋转区分开来的增量过程。参与者（N = 372) 完成了一系列认知测试，包括一项心理旋转测试，需要围绕单个基本轴或两个基本轴（导致倾斜轴旋转）对 Shepard 和 Metzler 型人物进行心理旋转。将嵌套因子测量模型与单因子模型进行比较时，结果表明复杂的倾斜轴旋转不能识别为嵌套特定因子。这表明导致心理旋转个体差异的过程在两种项目类型中是相同的，或者至少是显着相关的。在预测模型中包括空间可视化测试和推理测试表明参与者使用空间策略而不是推理来解决心理旋转项目。这些结果将 Just 和 Carpenter (1985) 关于立方体的简单基数轴和复杂倾斜轴旋转的发现推广到更复杂的对象，这些对象允许更灵活的心理旋转。可以得出结论，心理旋转代表了一种单一的能力。从个体差异的角度来看，这种能力可以用简单的基轴和复杂的斜轴旋转项目来评估。