Improvement of Spatial and Non-verbal General Reasoning Abilities in Female Veterinary Medical Students Over the First 64 Weeks of an Integrated Curriculum.

Sakti Srivastava,Christina Clarkson,Boaz Arzi,Juan Claudio Gutierrez,Roxanne Larsen,Steven D Holladay

doi:10.3389/fvets.2019.00141

Abstract

Spatial visualization ability is defined as the ability to mentally rotate two- and three-dimensional figures. Visual reasoning is the ability to manipulate mental images of an object to reach a certain conclusion and has been linked to spatial ability. There is currently limited information about how entry-level spatial and visual reasoning abilities may be enhanced with progression through the rigorous veterinary medical curriculum. The present study made use of two tests that measure spatial ability and one test that measures non-verbal general reasoning ability in female veterinary students: Guay's Visualization of Views Test, Adapted Version (VVT), Mental Rotations Test (MRT), and Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Test, short form (APMT). Tests were given immediately before commencing the integrated veterinary medical curriculum (T0), at week 32 (T1), and at week 64 (T2) into the program. Results showed improved spatial visualization ability as measured by VVT and MRT and improved non-verbal general reasoning ability as measured by APMT at both 32 and 64 weeks. The spatial ability scores measured by VVT and MRT showed a positive correlation with non-verbal general reasoning ability scores (APMT), supporting the idea that these abilities are linked.

Highlights

Lufler et al [1] suggested that either the innate or learned visual–spatial ability of students may be important for mastery of the medical curriculum [1, 2]
Regarding spatial ability and the highly visual anatomic learning, it has been suggested that medical students either possess or acquire higher spatial ability than non-medical science students, and show greater improvement in spatial ability scores than other science students after as little as 1 month of learning anatomy
Wilcoxon signed rank results revealed that mean scores on the Visualization of Views Test (VVT) showed a significant increase between T0 and T1, from 12.3 ± 6.1 to 16.3 ± 5.5 (p < 0.0001, effect size r = 0.5), and a significant increase between T0 and T2, from 12.3 ± 6.1 to 16.9 ± 5.1 (p < 0.0001, effect size r = 0.6)

Summary

Introduction

Lufler et al [1] suggested that either the innate or learned visual–spatial ability of students may be important for mastery of the medical curriculum [1, 2]. Garg et al suggested that ability to master spatial visualization might be a prerequisite for certain medical specialties, including surgery and diagnostic imaging [3]. Medical students show differences among themselves in terms of spatial ability. It remains unknown if such differences may be innate or curriculum driven. Anatomic learning has suspected involvement because it requires the ability to visualize multiple planes (e.g., sagittal, transverse, dorsal) and the associated anatomy and to mentally visualize two-dimensional images (e.g., radiographs, CT and magnetic resonance images, ultrasound) as the 3D equivalent from which they derive [9]. Birchall proposed that special consideration should be given to the testing of visuospatial ability as part of the selection process for prospective applicants to radiology training programs [10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion