Patterns of Perceptual Motor Skills in First and Fourth Year Dental Students.

A battery of perceptual motor skills tests was administered to 107 freshman and 84 senior dental students for the purposes of determining the factor structure of the battery and studying differences between the two groups. The tests used included Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test (MRM), Placing and Turning; O'Connor Finger Dexterity; O'Connor Tweezer Dexterity; Minnesota Spatial Relations; Crawford's Small Parts; and Purdue Pegboard, Both Hands and Assembly. Principal components analysis revealed Manual Dexterity, Finger Dexterity, Tweezer Dexterity and Spatial Relations as interpretable factors for both groups. Comparison of the factor patterns indicated that freshmen and seniors were least comparable on the Spatial Relations factors. It is suggested that as a result of three years of training, perceptual skills become interwined with motor skills and can no longer be expressed as an independent factor. (Author/PR)