Graphomotor perseveration and wandering in Alzheimer's disease.

Perseveration, spatial orientation, and attention/concentration were assessed in 15 patients with a probable diagnosis of senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Subjects were divided into two groups, wanderers and nonwanderers, based on caregiver ratings using a modified version of the Caregiver Checklist. Graphic productions of wanderers on the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Clock Drawing Test displayed greater total perseveration and more recurrent and continuous perseverations than those of nonwanderers. Spatial orientation and attention/concentration were similar between groups. These preliminary results suggest that graphomotor perseverations exhibited during the mild to moderate stages may serve as a marker for wandering in Alzheimer's disease.

Bender-Gestalt signs as indicants of anxiety, withdrawal, and acting-out behaviors in adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the Bender-Gestalt Test as a measure of acting-out, withdrawal, and anxiety tendencies in adolescents. A heterogeneous group of 40 emotionally disturbed adolescents was administered the Bender-Gestalt Test. Behavior ratings on the Devereux Adolescent Behavior Rating Scale were also obtained for each subject. Although several individual Acting-Out signs were found to be related to specific behavior ratings, the most notable findings were the significant correlations between total Bender-Gestalt Acting-Out signs and Poor Emotional Control and Inability to Delay. Bender-Gestalt Withdrawal and Anxiety signs were not found to be related significantly to specific behavior ratings.

The torque test as a measure of lateral dominance.

The present study was designed to assess the validity of the Torque Test as a measure of functional lateral dominance in children. One hundred forty-nine children were administered the Torque Test and The Harris Test of Lateral Dominance. A low but statistically significant correlation was found between torque and total lateral dominance.

The development of spatial representation in children from five to thirteen years of age.

Piaget and Inhelder, and Lowenfeld proposed theories on the development of spatial representation based on certain features present in children's drawings. The purpose of the present study was to provide an objective evaluation of these theories. Three raters examined drawings from children (N = 107) ages five to 13 for 38 of Lowenfeld's and Piaget's structural features included in the categories of Composition, Dimension, and Meaning. A confusion matrix and an index of rater reliability were used to assess the reliability of each feature. A structured key-word and chi-square analysis of the 23 reliably rated features produced a three-period model of spatial development similar to the theories presented by Piaget and Lowenfeld. Implications for future research were discussed, and children's drawings were suggested as diagnostic screening tools for the evaluation of children's overall development.

Impulsivity-reflectivity and children's intellectual performance.

Fifty-eight students ranging in age from 8 to 11 years were administered the Matching Familiary Figures test and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The primary purpose of the study was to determine if impulsive and reflective subjects differed on the major factors of the WISC-R. Reflective children scored significantly higher than impulsive children on the attention-concentration subtests and the visual organization subtests. The two groups did not differ significantly on the verbal comprehension subtests.

Bender Gestalt signs as indicants of conceptual impulsivity.

Sixty children were individually administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Bender Gestalt Test. The mean age of the subjects was 10 years, 11 months. A significant relationship was found between errors on the Bender Gestalt test and impulsivity. More specifically, increased or decreased loops (figure four or six), change in angulation, loops for circles and circles for dots or dots for circles were all significantly related to children's impulsivity.

Internal-external expectancy, maladjustment and psychotherapeutic intervention.

This paper reviewed research on the relationship between internal-external expectancy, maladjustment and psychotherapeutic intervention. The implications drawn from the studies reviewed were: (a) externality is related to poor psychological adjustment and (b) psychotherapy can be effectively utilized to modify expectancy.

Cognitive tempo and WISC-R performance.

Forty-one reflective and 32 impulsive children were identified by the Matching Familiar Figures test and administered the WISC-R. The mean full-scale IQ score was 88.6 for impulsives and 99.9 for reflectives. Further differences in favor of reflectives were found on both verbal and performance IQ as well as Information, Arithmetic, Comprehension, Digit Span, Picture Arrangement, Picture Completion, Block Design and Object Assembly subtests.

A comparison of WISC and WISC-R scoring criteria for comprehension, similarities, and vocabulary responses.

Ten graduate students scored items from the comprehension, similarities, and vocabulary subtests. Five used the WISC manual anf five used the WISC-R manual. Higher percentages of interscorer agreement were obtained from the WISC-R group on all three subtests. An analysis of two-point discrepancies among scorers further supported the superiority of the WISC-R scoring standards over those the WISC.