Abstract: The performance of object recognition depends on the viewpoints of objects, which is very similar to the performance of mental rotation. Therefore, some researchers believe that mental rotation accounts for the viewpoint-dependence in object recognition. While others argue that object recognition is dissociated from mental rotation. There are a lot of behavioral and neurosciences research in support of both theories. However, most of the existing behavioral evidences are indirect and not convincing. Further researches are suggested to focus on directly manipulating the factors influencing mental rotation and object recognition. And behavioral experiments should be combined with such on-line techniques as eye-movement and neuroimaging in future research

Key words: object recognition, mental rotation, viewpoint-dependence