为考察积极情绪对高中生心理旋转的影响，采用四种体态表情诱发趋近动机不同的积极情绪和中性情绪。结果发现：（1）直立中性时，局部任务反应时显著长于整体任务。（2）前倾微笑时，局部任务正确率显著高于整体任务，其他条件两种任务差异不显著。整体任务中，后倚微笑正确率高于其他体态表情。结果表明，高中生心理旋转存在整体优先效应；趋近动机是积极情绪对高中生心理旋转影响的调节变量，结果符合动机维度模型的假设。

The Motivational Dimensional Model (MDM) based on a series of experiments on attention, memory, and cognitive categorization, proposes that the positive effect in high approach motivation narrows the scope of cognition, whereas the positive effect in low approach motivation broadens the scope of cognition. Researchers have found that the approach motivation moderated the influence of positive effect on the effect of global precedence on mental rotation. The current study is aimed at studying the influence of positive effects differed in approach motivational intensity on the effect of global precedence on mental rotation of compound stimuli in high school students on the basis of MDM hypothesis.

We carried out our experiment using behavioral emotion-eliciting method to examine the influence of positive effects differed in the approach motivational intensities on mental rotation. In our experiment we adopted 4 body postures accompanied by facial expressions (sitting upright without smile, sitting upright with smile, leaning forward with smile, and reclining backward with smile) to elicit neutral emotion, positive effects with high, moderate and low approach motivation, respectively. Twenty-two 10th grade students (10 male students and 12 female students, average age = 15.64) completed the parity judgment task that required mental rotation of compound stimuli in the experiment. The compound stimuli were rotated capitalized letter Fs consisting of small Fs, in the form of normal or mirror image.

Repeated measures ANOVAs were performed with rotation angle (0 degree/60 degree/120 degree/180 degree), body postures with facial expressions (sitting upright without smile/sitting upright with smile/leaning forward with smile/reclining backward with smile), and task types (small letters/big letters). The results were: (1) When sitting upright without smile, participants responded faster to global targets than local targets; (2) When leaning forward with smile, participants’ average accuracy rate of local task was significantly higher than that of global task, and there was no significant difference between the two tasks under other 3 conditions of body postures accompanied by facial expressions. In global task, participants’ average accuracy rate was higher when reclining with smile than the other 3 conditions of body postures accompanied by facial expressions. We concluded that: (1) There was the effect of global precedence in compound stimuli mental rotation in high school students. (2) Approach motivation moderated the relationship between positive effect and mental rotation. Positive effect in low approach motivation broadens the scope of mental rotation when compared to neutral emotion state, whereas the positive affect in high approach motivation narrows the scope of mental rotation when compared to neutral emotion state.

The present study adopted novel emotion-eliciting methods of using different body postures accompanied by facial expressions, and included neutral emotion control group. We examined the influence of positive affects differed in approach motivation on mental rotation in high school students and expanded the research scope of MDM to high school students. The findings of our study have significance for improving high school students’ academic performance related to mental rotation.