Oral ability to recognize forms and oral motor ability in 11-year-old children

Oral ability to recognize forms and oral motor ability were examined in twenty children, aged 11 years, with normal occlusion. In the RF-test (recognition of form) the children identified the test pieces quicker but with a higher frequency of misidentification of the test pieces than a group of 17-year-old boys studied earlier. The effect of learning on the children was substantial with much quicker and greater certainty from one examination to another. Identification time and misidentification were positively correlated (individuals with long identification time also had a high frequency of errors). In the MA-test (oral motor ability) the children required a longer time to assemble the halves of the test pieces than did 17-year-old boys. A considerable effect of learning was found in the MA-test. The results of the RF-test and the MA-test varied independently of each other for which reason the two tests measure different components of oral ability.