Measuring Human Capabilities An Agenda for Basic Research on the Assessment of Individual and Group Performance Potential for Military Accession (2015) / Chapter Skim
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4 Spatial Abilities
4 Spatial Abilities
Pages 65-84
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From page 65... ...
Research also suggests that sex differences vary across different operationalizations of spatial ability. Together, these findings suggest exploring varying approaches to the measurement of spatial abilities to ascertain whether the AO test is the best measure of spatial ability for military selection and classification.
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From page 66... ...
Highly demanding spatial tasks include the construction of mental representations of object configuration from images on several screens representing different perspectives, as in some fields of interest to the military. In these fields of work, powerful computer graphic technologies are being used to create complex visual images of processes that occur in the natural world.
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From page 67... ...
Spatial ability tests measure practical and mechanical abilities important for success in technical occupations, but they are not supposed to be measures of abstract reasoning abilities (Horn, 1989; Smith, 1964)
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From page 68... ...
identification of three basic spatial abilities factors, analysis of spatial abilities in ARI's Project A considered spatial relations, spatial orientation, and visualization. The currently used AO test was developed through job analysis of abilities important to Army occupations during Project A's study time frame, 1983 to 1988, and refined through subsequent field testing and validation studies.
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From page 69... ...
SPATIAL ABILITIES 69 FIGURE 4-1 Sample questions from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery AO test. SOURCE: Official site of the ASVAB.
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From page 70... ...
concluded that adding AO to the AFQT composite score would increase the AFQT's prediction of performance and job knowledge in jobs that require spatial aptitude, with little or no subgroup differences. STATE OF THE SCIENCE As a leader in research on spatial abilities, the Army has access to a well-developed body of data on the internal and external validity of spatial ability constructs and tests.
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From page 71... ...
Air Force Chief Scientist, in her briefing to the committee, "Situation awareness is the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projections of their status in the near future."2 The inclusion of a future time element in this definition of situation awareness indicates the importance of abilities in contingency planning, a partially trainable skill with underlying individual differences in natural ability. The committee can envision facets of spatial abilities similarly linked with situation awareness also being important to many Army occupations and job duties, especially those involving combat maneuvers of remotely controlled technology.
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From page 72... ...
Other evidence of the validity of constructs for facets of spatial ability in predicting key outcomes was obtained through a longitudinal study of the occupational status of 400,000 high school students from Project Talent (see Humphreys et al., 1993)
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From page 73... ...
The spatial composite they used was made up of four tests: (1) the Project Talent 2D spatial abilities test (object rotation and flipping in two dimensions; 24 items)
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From page 74... ...
74 TABLE 4-1 Proportions in Four High School Classes of Occupational Categories of Three Select Groups and Students in General Norm High-Intelligence High-Space High-Verbal Major Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Physical Science .04 .00 .15 .01 .10 .00 .04 .00 Biological Science .02 .03 .07 .05 .04 .06 .06 .07 Business .32 .07 .34 .08 .35 .06 .34 .07 Education/Social Work .07 .08 .09 .18 .09 .10 .14 .19 Humanities/Social Sciences .04 .01 .11 .04 .02 .01 .19 .04 Arts .01 .01 .01 .01 .03 .01 .02 .00 Technical .06 .02 .08 .02 .08 .02 .05 .02 Secretarial/Clerical .04 .16 .02 .11 .02 .16 .01 .12 Artisan .39 .11 .14 .05 .28 .07 .12 .05 Housewife .00 .50 .00 .44 .00 .50 .00 .43 NOTE: These proportions are based on population estimates. SOURCE: Humphreys et al.
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From page 75... ...
TABLE 4-2 Proportions in Four High School Classes of Amount of Education Completed by the Three Select Groups and Students in General Norm High-Intelligence High-Space High-Verbal Education Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females PhD .03 .00 .11 .02 .02 .00 .08 .01 MA+ .06 .04 .16 .13 .09 .05 .18 .09 BA + .17 .13 .34 .33 .25 .17 .34 .38 HS + .53 .64 .26 .41 .50 .65 .27 .41 Dropped Out .05 .06 .01 .01 .01 .04 .01 .01 Uncertain .02 .01 .03 .02 .01 .01 .02 .02 No Response .14 .12 .10 .08 .11 .09 .10 .08 NOTE: These proportions are based on population estimates. PhD = doctoral degree; it includes degrees in law and medicine.
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From page 76... ...
Sex Differences The adoption of tests of spatial abilities for the purposes of assessment and placement has been hampered by contradictory and sometimes confusing results regarding sex differences. Males score higher, on average, than females in many spatial abilities tests, but this is not true across all facets of spatial ability.
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From page 77... ...
They found significant sex differences in several tests, and they found that differences from test to test still exist. Military research also shows variability in sex differences across spatial ability measures.
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From page 78... ...
In particular, the committee's interest in sex differences is based on findings that male-female differences on some spatial ability measures are substantially greater, in proportional terms, than are sex differences on the currently used AFQT composite. For instance, Sackett and colleagues (2009)
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From page 79... ...
The Army's primary work on spatial abilities was conducted through Project A, which assessed the spatial abilities relevant to Army occupations at that time. Modifications of jobs and occupations, especially during the past 30 years, warrant a new look at the fundamental importance of spatial abilities to Army occupations, including those aspects of spatial ability that require proficiency in human-computer systems, virtual interfaces, graphical data representations, and other digital-age technologies.
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From page 80... ...
B. Examine the interrelationships among various facets of spatial abil ity, including but not limited to spatial relations, spatial orienta tion, and spatial visualization. C. Examine sex differences on the various facets of spatial ability, as well as the degree to which sex differences are mitigated or accen tuated by various forms of training on the facets of spatial ability.
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From page 81... ...
. Evaluation of Tests of Processing Speed, Spatial Ability, and Working Memory for Use in Military Occupational Classification (NPRST-TR-14-1)
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From page 82... ...
. Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: A meta-analysis.
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From page 83... ...
. Importance of assessing spatial ability in intellectually talented young adolescents: A 20-year longitudinal study.
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