Vehicles of spatial ability

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 2002-04, Vol.32 (5), p.903-912
• Main Authors: Colom, Roberto, Contreras, Mª José, Botella, Juan, Santacreu, José
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cattell's Culture Fair test; Cognition. Intelligence; Dynamic spatial performance; Fluid reasoning; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General visualization; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Schmid–Leiman hierarchical factor analysis; Spatial ability; Spatial perception. Time perception; Spatial relations; Visualization
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00095-2

Spatial ability implies the generation, retention, retrieval, and transformation of visuo-spatial information. Factor analytic research has identified a broad array of spatial factors. Visualization (Vz) and Spatial relations (SR) are among the most cited. Dynamic spatial performance (DSP) has emerged in more recent times as a new strong candidate. However, there are some doubts about the existence of clear separate spatial factors. On the one hand, general spatial ability (Gv) has a substantial overlap with fluid reasoning (Gf). On the other hand, as Carroll's [Carroll, J. B. (1993). Human cognitive abilities: a survey of factor analytic studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] survey notes, procedures of measurement are in need of considerable refinement. A battery of Vz, SR, and DSP spatial tests was applied in the present study to a sample of 105 undergraduates. The correlation matrix is analysed through a Schmid–Leiman hierarchical factor analysis, resulting in a powerful higher-order factor identified with Gv. First-order factors are shown as psychologically meaningless. Moreover, a confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates that a single endogenous factor, identified with Gv, predicts fairly well all the spatial markers. The correlation between the subjects' Gv factor scores and their scores in the Cattell's Culture Fair test shows a value of +0.6. Therefore, the study suggests that there is no clear separation among markers of some core spatial factors and that Gv strongly correlates with fluid ability (Gf).