Spatial Abilities of Medical Graduates and Choice of Residency Programs Jean Langlois, 1,2 * George A. Wells, 3,4 Marc Lecourtois, 5 Germain Bergeron, 5 Elizabeth Yetisir, 4 Marcel Martin 2 1 Department of Emergency Medicine, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada 2 Department of Surgery, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada 3 Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 4 Cardiovascular Research Methods Center, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 5 Neuropsychology Program of the Trauma and Critical Care Group, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Spatial abilities have been related in previous studies to three-dimensional (3D) anatomy knowledge and the performance in technical skills. The objective of this study was to relate spatial abilities to residency programs with different levels of content of 3D anatomy knowledge and technical skills. The hypothesis was that the choice of residency program is related to spatial abilities. A cohort of 210 medical graduates was enrolled in a prospective study in a 5-year experiment. Spatial abilities were measured with a redrawn Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test (MRT) in two (MRTA) and three (MRTC) dimensions. Medical graduates were enrolled in Family Medicine (n 5 76, 36.2%), Internal Medicine (64, 30.5%), Surgery (52, 24.8%), and Anesthesia (18, 8.6%). The assumption was that the level of 3D anatomy knowledge and technical skills content was higher in Surgery and Anesthesia compared to Family Medicine and Internal Medicine. Mean MRTA score of 12.4 (6SD 4.6), 12.0 (64.3), 14.1 (64.3), and 14.6 (64.0) was obtained in Family Medi- cine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Anesthesia, respectively (P 5 0.0176). Similarly, mean MRTC score of 8.0 (64.4), 7.5 (63.6), 8.5 (63.9), and 7.9 (64.1) was obtained (P 5 0.5647). Although there was a tendency for lower MRTA score in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine compared to Surgery and Anesthesia, no statistically significant main effect of residency, year, sex, or the interactions were observed for the MRTA and MRTC. Studied sample of medical graduates was not found to choose their residency pro- grams based on their innate spatial abilities. Anat Sci Educ 8: 111–119. V C 2014 American Associa- tion of Anatomists. Key words: spatial abilities; gross anatomy education; technical skills; medical education; residency education; residency selection; visualization; spatial orientation; mental rota- tions test INTRODUCTION Spatial abilities consist of visualization, orientation, and manipulation of structures in space (McGee, 1979). Spatial abilities have been related to three-dimensional (3D) anatomy knowledge using practical (identification) examination (Roch- ford, 1985; Provo et al., 2002; Luursema et al., 2006, 2008; Levinson et al., 2007; Lufler et al., 2012; Nguyen et al., 2012), topographical questions (Rochford, 1985; Guillot et al., 2007; Hoyek et al., 2009), 3D synthesis of two- dimensional anatomical views (Rochford, 1985; Garg et al.,1999a, b, 2001, 2002), cross-sections (Provo et al., *Correspondence to: Dr. Jean Langlois, Department of Emergency Medicine, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, 3001, 12 e Avenue Nord, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada J1H 5N4. E-mail: jeanlanglois@rogers.com Grant sponsor: Department of Surgery, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada (internal research fund). Received 24 October 2014; Revised 14 February 2014; Accepted 15 March 2014. Published online 20 June 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ase.1453 V C 2014 American Association of Anatomists Anatomical Sciences Education MARCH/APRIL 2015 Anat Sci Educ 8:111–119 (2015) RESEARCH REPORT