2 Spatial ability and knowledge representation concepts Spatial ability and associated skills are critical to effective navigation of both real and virtual environments. It is defined as cognitive processing involved in “representing, generating, and recalling symbolic, non-linguistic information” (Linn & Petersen, 1985, p. 1482). Spatial ability consists of spatial perception (orientation to one’s own body), mental rotation (the ability to mentally rotate 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional objects), and spatial visualization (complex multi-step spatial processing to create a mental representation of an object).