Hierarchical Structure of Spatial Ability -Correlation between Spatial Ability as Evaluated by a Mental Cutting Test and General Intelligence -

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To study the correlation between spatial ability, as evaluated by a Mental Cutting Test (MCT), and general intelligence., we administered both the MCT and the Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) Test to university students. The APM has been widely used as a general intelligence test. We also administered the Minnesota Paper Form Board Test (MPFBT), a spatial test, for comparison. The principal results are as follows : 1) The spatial ability evaluated by the MCT is highly correlated with general intelligence, while the spatial ability evaluated by the MPFBT has little correlation with it. 2) The ability to mentally construct visual images of three-dimensional objects based on their two-dimensional representations, has a high correlation with general intelligence. 3) As the MCT reflects the SVF (spatial visualization factor) and the MPFBT reflects the SRF (speeded rotation factor), we may conclude that spatial ability has a hierarchical structure and only the SVF is correlated with general intelligence.