SCANX
ScanX is a scientific and operationally proven test to identify high performing personnel who are particularly suited to analysis in jobs requiring visually intensive processing and analysis. The exercise provides information on the effectiveness of a person’s rapid review and search of a visual scene. It involves strong elements of analysing visual information, being able to handle detail, and being sensitive to anomalies and deviations from an expected standard or norm. A person with these skills typically has the ability to home in on relevant points and conditions and is able to make comparisons with previous experiences in memory. This exercise is also useful as an indication of skills in picking up patterns in visual scenes. The ability to sustain concentration over time is important in maintaining a good level of performance.
BENEFITS OF USE:
ScanX provides insights into visual analysis skills that are almost impossible to get with conventional assessments. Use of ScanX means that:
- A higher calibre of person is selected, supported by research and resulting in greater detection rates.
- The possession of a broad based visual analysis skill facilitates movement and application of skills to different positions, meaning that people can be deployed more flexibly in environments where observation and analysis are required.
- Training is transformed into better application on the job.
- Your return on capital investments is increased, as the skills of personnel allow them to leverage the potential of the technologies invested in.
- Placement of personnel should lead to greater retention of highly suitable personnel.
WHAT THE SCANX EXERCISE SCORES TELL YOU | |
|---|---|
| SCANNING ACCURACY – OPTIMAL PERIOD | This score refers to the number of target items detected within four seconds. This shows the speed of visual analysis and the identification of anomalies or inconsistencies in a situation. If detection happens in less than four seconds, the person gets an immediate feel for the situation and is able to ‘home in’ on key issues. It could involve the placement or positioning of things or people, what people are wearing or behaviour, or inconsistencies in the patterns of things being done. For casino tables, this is seen to be a strong advantage. Because the accuracy is calculated over the duration of the exercise, it reflects long term concentration effectiveness as well |
| SCANNING ACCURACY – ACCEPTABLE PERIOD | This is the amount of items detected within six seconds. It shows a slightly slower efficiency than four seconds but covers the same kind of detection of anomalies or inconsistencies. |
| SCANNING ACCURACY – ALL RESPONSE TIMES | Amount of items detected over the time the item is displayed – ie., up to 15 seconds. If somebody is slow but thorough, it indicates that they still have the detection skill, but take time to detect things. If things take some time to develop or are likely to be on screen for a number of seconds, this ability can be used. It indicates a thorough and persevering approach rather than just speed. People who have high speed as well as this ability are seen to keep their attention going beyond initial impressions to continued follow through. People with high speed initially, but who fall behind in this dimension, are seen to be quick but impulsive with a tendency to lose their attention after first impressions. |
| SCANNING - RESPONSE TIME | The speed of response time indicates quicker and more efficient visualising, memory and general information processing skills. Effectively it shows the person’s speed of ‘homing in’ on inconsistent details in a situation. Faster people are more efficient at picking things up and ‘home in’ better than others, provided their response speed is accompanied by good accuracy results. Fast responses with low accuracy indicate a quick drop off of attention after the person’s initial impression. Slow response times indicate that people have to observe and analyse a situation for longer before establishing patterns, relationships and inconsistencies in the situation. |
| SCANNING FALSE ALARMS | False alarms give an indication of the ability of the candidate to identify and discriminate between the elements of a target and standard picture. The lack of ability to recognise key features, differences, and inconsistencies in the way things relate to one another will result in false alarms. This is generally accompanied by a less confident, impulsive, or uncaring decision making style, which makes the person respond even when unsure of what they are seeing. |
| SCANNING DEVIATION OF RESPONSE TIMES | This shows the rate of change of the person’s response time during the exercise. High fluctuations will indicate a periodic strong falling off of attention while doing the exercise. |
INTREPRETATION OF SAMAE GRAPHS
Visual recognition of ideal graphic profiles is relatively straightforward. The performance graph used above, for instance, reflects high and consistent performance.
The performance graphic has three lines when graphing the Scanning Exercise and two when graphing the other exercises. The following details are relevant to the graphs:
Solid blue line – This is the accuracy level of the candidate where they have up to 15 seconds to detect an on screen incident. This is only applicable to the Scanning exercise – incidents in the other exercises have to be detected within 4 seconds to register. The accuracy measurement is on the right hand vertical axis.
Dotted blue line – This is the accuracy level of the candidate for the amount of incidents detected within four seconds. The accuracy measurement is on the right hand vertical axis.
Dotted green line – This is the average amount of time in seconds that the person took to register a response to an incident appearing on screen.
When reviewing graphics of test performance, the following points can be borne in mind:
- Consistency of performance is desired. Graphs should ideally be as flat as possible or incline over the duration of the exercise. In practice, the better candidates tend to achieve a more consistent graph line. Lines for even moderate candidates can, however, be slightly erratic. The Scanning exercise tends to be more prone to fluctuations than the other exercises. Highly erratic graph lines or those which decline rapidly towards the end are indications of problems in performance. Those which decline significantly towards the end are indicative of fairly rapid fatigue and a likely lapse of concentration fairly quickly in the working shift.
- High graph lines are desired - this is a natural consequence of high accuracy. Low graph lines on performance graphs typically represent poor accuracy or slow reaction times.
- For the scanning test, close matches between the optimal accuracy line and the accuracy percentage line are desirable but infrequent. In many cases there is a significant difference between the detection rate within four seconds and that up to 15 seconds. High performers have a closer relationship between these two lines (with the two conditions above being satisfied) compared to low performers.