For the observed age differences in the remote control task, there are two possible explanations.
First, younger children and older children might have used different imagery strategies. Whereas older
children and adults might have solved the manual tilting task using a purely visual imagery strategy, it
is possible that younger children solved the task by applying a motor imagery strategy, thereby trying
to imagine the necessary action. To do this, they might need to draw on learned motor schemata or
motor experience, for which motor activity might be necessary. Second, it is possible that all age
groups used motor imagery to solve the task but that older children and adults were able to covertly
simulate hand movement, whereas younger children were not able to imagine their hands to move
without actually moving them. Further experiments are needed to decide which of these two possible
explanations is closer to the truth. For now, we can say that the two explanations have in common
that mental (visual or motor) simulations become increasingly independent from overt motor activities
as the age of the children increases.