Development of Computerized Tests for the Evaluation of Human Three-Dimensional Spatial Ability

Three-dimensional (3D) spatial ability is a critical cognitive ability of humans. The existing tests for 3D spatial ability are mainly paper-and-pencil tests. In the present paper, we developed computerized tests to evaluate human spatial ability. We chose 3D mental rotation test and 3D perspective taking test as the typical types of 3D spatial ability. And the computerized tests for the spatial abilities were developed in two versions, the desktop-based spatial tests and the web-based spatial tests. 30 subjects took the desktop-based spatial tests (the 3D mental rotation test and 3D perspective taking test) twice, another subjects took the web-based spatial tests (the 3D mental rotation test and 3D perspective taking test) twice. Their spatial abilities were evaluated through the index of "mean reaction time/accuracy. "Correlation analysis shows that the test-retest reliability of the computerized tests are all quite high, while the web-based spatial tests demonstrated higher reliability than the desktop-based spatial tests. Those data indicate that the computerized 3D mental rotation test and 3D perspective taking test can be well applied to the evaluation of Human's 3D spatial ability.