Predicting strategy usage for the compass point directions task: Spatial versus verbal ability across the lifespan

Roberts, Gilmore and Wood (1997) investigated a compass point directions ta sk solvable either by an inefficient spatial strategy or by an efficient ca ncellation strategy. They found that the discovery of cancellation appeared to be dependent upon high spatial ability, and hence people's ability to r epresent information spatially. Two studies are reported here which address ed the issue of whether the sampling used by Roberts et al. - selecting peo ple with high or low spatial ability - had inflated the importance of spati al ability as a predictor at the expense of alternatives. In every case, sp atial ability was found to be the best predictor of strategy usage. Overall , the spatial representation explanation of strategy discovery appears to b e a better account of strategy usage for this task than alternatives based upon intelligence, verbal ability, or knowledge.