THE ROLE OF GENERAL AND SPECIFIC PSYCHOMOTOR TRACKING ABILITY IN VALIDITY

A study of 1,099 males and females in pilot training was conducted to investigate the relative importance of general and specific factors of psychomotor tracking ability in the prediction of several pilot train ing criteria. Measures of psychomotor tracking ability were derived fr om the Basic Attributes Test (Carretta and Ree 1994). The criteria wer e the dichotomous passing or failing pilot training and the average of six flying work samples. Comparisons of linear models indicated that general psychomotor tracking ability was the source of most of the val idity and that only the specific measure of reaction time was incremen tal. Reaction time, although part of the psychomotor taxonomy, has fre quently been identified as a measure of cognitive ability.