Date of Award
8-1986
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the visual and motor behavior of brain dysfunctional patients and the effects of varying the line density on the Background Interference Procedure for the Bender-Gestalt (BIP). Various claims have been made for the increased diagnostic accuracy of the BIP over the regular Bender-Gestalt, yet few investigations have been conducted to explore the BIP phenomenon. A model for the process of drawing geometrical figures was proposed in hopes of clarifying how this procedure and others intervene in the graphomotor task.
The original BIP paper was considered to have lines of single-density. A transparency of this original BIP paper was rotated 180(DEGREES) and overlaid onto a second sheet of single-density BIP paper to create paper with double-density lines. Blank paper was referred to as zero-density paper. A multiple-choice test was created and the subjects' scores were compared on both the drawing and multiple-choice administrations for the three paper densities. In addition, behavior on a figure-ground test was compared with behavior on the various Bender-Gestalt administrations.
Thirty-two right-handed male subjects were used. The dysfunctional group consisted of patients from a Veterans Administration hospital with a Halstead-Reitan Impairment Index greater than .5. The non-dysfunctional group was composed of non-hospitalized individuals who had not experienced any traumatic head injury and an education beyond the high school level.
The results indicated no significant difference between the errors produced on single- and double-density lined paper on either the drawing or multiple-choice tests. Within the dysfunctional group, significantly more errors were created on single- than on zero-density paper on both the drawing and multiple-choice tests. Errors on the figure-ground test correlated with errors on zero- and single-density paper on only the drawing portion of this research.
It was concluded that increasing line density was not, in itself, a significant factor in influencing the visual component of the graphomotor task. The Bender-Gestalt figures are simple geometric designs with a limited number of high-information areas. Memorizing the designs may limit the number of errors created on double-density lined paper.
Access Setting
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Ezzo, Michael Joseph, "Performance of Brain Dysfunctional and Non-Dysfunctional Subjects on the BIP and a Multiple-Choice BIP with Varying Degrees of Background Interference" (1986). Dissertations. 2296.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/2296