Spatial aptitude
Spatial aptitude was already evaluated in the beginning of intelligence testing (Binet and
Simon, 1905). As a cognitive aptitude, the spatial aptitude is often a main component of
psychological aptitude tests batteries or intelligence models (Guilford, Fruchter and
Zimmerman, 1952). A series of studies concerning the cognitive structure view it as part
of spatial-kinestesic intelligence (Gardner, 1983).
Meta-analytical studies indicate that the spatial aptitude is not a general (homogeneous)
aptitude; it can be divided into the following components (Linn and Peterson, 1985):
- Spatial relations – the component is well highlighted in image
transformation tasks. Rotation tasks satisfy this requirement. - Spatial orientation – this component refers to one’s capacity to picture a
perception field from another perspective. In spatial orientation tasks, a
subject is requested to analyse various aspects of a space by shifting the
viewpoints. Generating mental images by composing others involves the
analysis of a complex perception field and the combination of the mental
images thus obtained. The mental image is a cognitive representation that
includes information on the form and spatial configuration (relative position)
of a collection of objects in the absence of the action of visual stimuli on
specific receptors (Miclea, 1994).
It has been extensively proved that these aptitudes have a significant weight in the
professional performance (Smith, 1964) in certain fields: mathematics (Burnett, Lane and
Dratt, 1979), chemistry (Barke, 1993), information science and technical sciences (Sorby,
Leopold and Gorska, 1999).
Form perception aptitude
Perception is the process of unmediated and immediate reflecting in the cognitive system
of the physical properties of objects and phenomena in their entirety, in the context of
their acting upon our senses (Radu et al, 1991). There are several forms of perception:
visual, auditory, tactile-kinetic, olfactory, and gustatory. Form perception tests set as their
goal to evaluate the visual perception. Within visual perception, form can be defined
operationally as that aspect of a stimulus that remains invariant irrespective of the
changes occurring in its size, position, and orientation.
All the evaluations in the form perception tests refer to the capacity to perceive
bi-dimensional forms, triggering three abilities:
- form constancy: recognizing dominant features of the target drawn forms
when they undergo changes in size or position;