Spatial ability at two scales of representation: A meta-analysis

The primary objective of this meta-analysis is to examine the relationship between small-scale and large-scale spatial abilities. The secondary objective is to investigate whether gender and age moderates this relationship. Peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1985 and 2014 were retrieved through an extensive literature search using different combinations of the keywords navigation, mental rotation, small-scale space, large-scale space, spatial ability, and way-finding. Twenty-seven studies were initially identified. Fifteen studies were included in the final analysis. Both Q statistic and I2 suggest that the reported effect sizes, i.e., the associations between small-scale and large-scale spatial abilities, are heterogeneous. Therefore, a random effects model was fit. The multiple regression model explains a significant amount of the variance of the effect sizes. Overall, results from this meta-analysis suggest that small-scale and large-scale spatial abilities are best characterized as separate abilities. Regarding the moderators, whereas age effect is statistically significant, gender effect is not.