Organization and Components of Psychomotor Ability.
Abstract
We administered test batteries of general cognitive and specific cognitive information-processing ability along with two replications of a psychomotor battery sampling from Fleishman's (1964) taxonomy of psychomotor tasks (i.e. control precision, multi-limb coordination, rate control, and response orientation). All tests were administered via computer. Fleishman's priority categories were not supported by structure modeling of the data. The psychomotor factors that were supported were a general psychomotor ability factor and a factor associated with practiced psychomotor performance. Cognitive factors overlapped considerably with the psychomotor factors. General cognitive and temporal processing ability accounted for more than half the variability in the general psychomotor factor, though the variability unaccounted for by cognitive ability was still reliable. In addition, practiced psychomotor performance (controlling for general psychomotor ability) was only related to processing speed. Our results suggest that 1) psychomotor ability is not a set of diverse orthogonal abilities (as suggested by past literature) 2) psychomotor measures are important adjuncts to selection batteries for jobs with psychomotor components 3) cognitive ability (both general and specific) overlap with psychomotor ability in theoretically meaningful ways.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA371599
Entities
People
- Patrick Kylionen
- Scott Chaiken
- William Tirre
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory