Final answer:
Mental rotation is the ability to mentally manipulate and visualize objects in 3D space. Phelps and Reit expanded our understanding of mental rotation with their research on sexual orientation differences in this ability.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mental rotation refers to the ability to mentally manipulate and visualize objects in 3D space. It was first studied by Shepard and Metzler in the 1970s and has since been a prominent topic in cognitive psychology. Phelps and Reit extended the understanding of mental rotation with their research on sexual orientation differences in mental rotation performance.
The study by Rahman and Wilson (2003) found large sexual-orientation-related differences in performance on mental rotation tasks. This suggests that there may be cognitive differences related to sexual orientation in the ability to mentally rotate objects in space.
Overall, mental rotation is an important concept in cognitive psychology that helps us understand how our brains process and manipulate visual information in three dimensions.