Spatial Ability Stress Test for Screening and Selection: The Development of SCOUT-R

• Published in: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 1551 - 1555
• Main Authors: Brown, Noelle L., Sibley, Ciara, Foroughi, Cyrus K., Coyne, Joseph T., Herdener, Nathan, Phillips, Henry, King, Kenneth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2020
• ISSN: 1071-1813; 2169-5067
• DOI: 10.1177/1071181320641371

Spatial abilities are often predictive of occupational success. Specifically, they are thought to play a role in aviator success and thus, are evaluated in Naval and Air Force aviation selection. However, the selection process only includes a single assessment of spatial ability which recent findings have called into question its validity. The creation of a speeded spatial ability stress test with face validity for the Navy and Marine Corps aviation community was investigated. We developed SCOUT-R, a multitask environment where participants quickly discriminated target objects from distractors, all of which could appear in any 90° orientation. The results showed the speeded presentation affected subjective workload and task strategy; however, target discrimination improved as the speed of presentation increased. The implications for SCOUT-R as a spatial ability selection test are considered.