Abstract

The paper presents a Self-Rating Scale devised to assess sense of direction and spatial representation of young adults. In the first study, 56 undergraduates were administered with a provisional version of the Scale. The factor analysis pointed out 5 factors related to: general sense of direction, preferences in spatial representation (survey vs. route vs. visual), knowledge and use of compass directions. A significant correlation was found between three pointing tasks and the scores of the items on sense of direction, use of compass directions, preference for survey representation. In the second study, a revised version of the Scale was administered to 285 undergraduates (60 males and 225 females). The factor analysis confirmed the results of the first study. The new data were analysed in order to verify the existence of individual differences related to gender and to the preference for a kind of spatial representation. Men and high-survey participants resulted to have higher scores in orienting abilities and in use of compass directions than women and low-survey participants. The paper gives information about the psychometric properties of the Scale and about the main dimensions of spatial ability which can be measured through it.