Lancet demonstrated that high spatial ability was related to the performance of surgery. Additionally, although this is somewhat speculative, the grandfathers and fathers of autistic people were more likely to be engineers, and since it is known that autistic people have an ability peak in block design, it is possible that an inherited ability for block design performance may be responsible for the increased number of engineers and scientists among the relatives of autistic individuals. Spatial ability in pilots In 1993, Dror et al. found that pilots' performance was superior to non-pilots on a test of the speed of mental rotation. Although the block design test is characterized as a test of spatial visualization, not mental rotation, spatial visualization ability as measured by the block design test is highly correlated to mental rotation ability. Research in an educational context As performance on the block design test has been suggested as a predictive measure for performance in fields such as engineering and physics. Felder, at North Carolina State University, has developed a learning style questionnaire that attempts to assess spatial ability in an educational context. References Intelligence tests