Abstract
A program of research using touch-sensitive monitors and computerized testing of psychomotor abilities is described, along with paper and pencil tests of perceptual speed abilities, to predict first-year grades in a professional School of Dentistry program. Touch-sensitive monitors allow for assessment of fine motor performance, hands-on spatial visualization, and dexterity aptitudes in a manner previously unavailable in off-the-shelf computer equipment. Many of the previous impediments to psychomotor testing were predicated on the use of expensive electromechanical apparatuses. The current experiment was designed to examine whether these impediments for large-scale assessment may be eliminated by the use of relatively inexpensive and flexible computerized systems. Results were supportive of the raw and incremental validity of the new touch-panel based psychomotor ability tests in predicting individual differences in dental-school grades. In this research, the computerized tests of psychomotor abilities provided an important demonstration of how this new technology may be used to improve selection batteries for predicting individual differences performance on real-world tasks.
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