The GEFT contains 18 complex figures each in which the respondent must identify a simple form.[2] The respondent does so by tracing the simple form within the complex figure (1) with pencil (for paper-pencil administration)[2] or (2) by clicking and dragging their mouse cursor (for online administration).[1] The GEFT is a timed test elapsing 20-minutes and can be administered to an individual or groups of older children (age 10+), adolescents, and adults.[4] The GEFT is protected by copyright law and is published by Mind Garden, Inc.
However, empirical work by Milne & Szczerbinski (2009) questions to what extent the EFT measures the aforementioned constructs. Milne and Szczerbinski performed a factor analysis on a wide range of tasks assumed to measure enhanced local processing or weak central coherence (including the group EFT; Witkin et al., 1971) to test whether a common factor underlies these different local-global tasks. Their results suggested that individual differences on the EFT reflected a factor called disembedding, but did not reflect a general local or global perceptual style. The disembedding factor also correlated with coherent motion thresholds and intelligence in their student sample.
To further obfuscate the conceptual clarity of the EFT, good performance on the EFT has consistently been linked to general intelligence and, in more recent years, has also been interpreted as a measure of executive functions (Brosnan et al., 2002; Goodenough & Karp, 1961; Richardson & Turner, 2000; Roberge & Flexer, 1981). John Duncan (2013) has even explicitly used the EFT to illustrate the types of problem solving that are typically involved in tests of fluid intelligence. The theoretical account that he has put forward is supported by numerous observations. For example, Bölte et al. (2007) reported a high correlation (r = .63) between nonverbal IQ (using the Block Design subscale of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales) and EFT performance in a sample of high-functioning autism, schizophrenics, depressed and healthy individuals and McKenna (1984) listed a considerable number of studies that found moderate to large correlations between measures of IQ and different embedded figures tasks that were robust across various types of samples. Although the EFT has also been interpreted as a measure of executive functions (Brosnan et al., 2002), there have been no studies, to our knowledge, that explicitly measured the association between EFT performance and executive functions.
Brosnan et al. (2002) found that dyslexic children and adults with poor working memory ability performed worse on the G-EFT and interpreted this finding as a reflection of poor ability to disinhibit the surrounding task-irrelevant context while searching for the target shape. Although it could be that in samples with EF dysfunctions EF skills may affect EFT performance, our results do not support the idea that good performance on an embedded figures task is necessarily a good proxy of inhibitory skills. Therefore, it seems premature to interpret performance on the EFT as a reflection of poor inhibitory skills since there is little empirical support for this idea.
In Study 1, we demonstrated that inter-individual differences on the embedded figures task, Navon selective attention and coherent motion task are not strongly associated to each other. This finding aligns with the results of the study of Milne & Szczerbinski (2009) and Chamberlain et al. (2017), which indicated that there is no single common factor underlying performance in tasks interpreted as measuring local/global perceptual style.
We must consider one possible limitation to the generalizability of our results. We tested a primarily female student sample in our three different studies that may be more homogeneous regarding their perceptual abilities, fluid intelligence and executive functions compared to a random sample from the general population. Even though we attempted to compensate for the sample homogeneity by choosing tasks that would maximize inter-individual differences within this group the convergence between the different measures may still differ in different samples. The moderate stability of the L-EFT could also be related to the homogeneous sample that took part in our study and a more heterogeneous sample may elicit different levels of perceptual trait stability.
A number of instruments have been developed to measure a person's learning style. One of the easiest to administer, especially in group situations, is the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, and Karp, 1971). The GEFT is a perceptual test which requires the subject to locate a previously seen figure within a larger complex figure. The GEFT, which is comprised of 18 complex figures, can be administered in 20 minutes and can be quickly scored using answer templates from the test distributor.
The Embedded Figures Test (EFT, developed by Witkin and colleagues (1971)) has been used extensively in research on individual differences, particularly in the study of autism spectrum disorder. The EFT was originally conceptualized as a measure of field (in)dependence, but in recent years performance on the EFT has been interpreted as a measure of local versus global perceptual style. Although many have used the EFT to measure perceptual style, relatively few have focused on understanding the stimulus features that cause a shape to become embedded. The primary aim of this work was to investigate the relation between the strength of embedding and perceptual grouping on a group level.
New embedded figure stimuli (both targets and contexts) were developed in which stimulus features that may influence perceptual grouping were explicitly manipulated. The symmetry, closure and complexity of the target shape were manipulated as well as its good continuation by varying the number of lines from the target that continued into the context. We evaluated the effect of these four stimulus features on target detection in a new embedded figures task (Leuven Embedded Figures Test, L-EFT) in a group of undergraduate psychology students. The results were then replicated in a second experiment using a slightly different version of the task.
These results show that some stimulus features, which are known to affect perceptual grouping, also influence how effectively a stimulus becomes embedded in different contexts. Whether these results imply that the EFT measures individual differences in perceptual grouping ability must be further investigated.
An Embedded Figures Test (EFT) was developed for the detection of feigned ADHD in adulthood. EFT performance of 51 adults with ADHD was compared to the performance of 52 matched healthy individuals, as well as to 268 undergraduate students who were randomly allocated in a simulation design to one of four experimental conditions, i.e. a control group, a naïve simulation group, a symptom-coached simulation group or a test-coached simulation group. Furthermore, an independent sample of 11 adults with ADHD as well as a sample of 17 clinicians experienced in the work with adults with ADHD were assessed for further validation of the EFT.
Furthermore, 268 first-year psychology students (183 female, 85 male) of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, took part in the study in exchange of course credits. Participants had a mean age of 21.4 years (SD = 2.5 years) and a mean IQ of 100.1 (SD = 9.5). Prior to assessment, these participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, i.e. the control group (CG) (n = 58; age = 21.53.3 years, gender (f/m) = 36/22, IQ = 98.09.4), the naïve simulation group (NSG) (n = 70; age = 21.32.4 years, gender (f/m) = 54/16, IQ = 99.79.8), the symptom-coached simulation group (SSG) (n = 70; age = 21.42.4 years, gender (f/m) = 51/19, IQ = 100.48.5), and the test-coached simulation group (TSG) (n = 70; age = 21.52.0 years, gender (f/m) = 42/28, IQ = 101.710.1). Whereas the control group was instructed to perform all tests and measures to the best of their abilities, simulation groups were asked to perform the tests while pretending to be affected with ADHD (feigning ADHD). The simulation groups differed with regard to the additional information they received in preparation of their assessment (see materials and procedure sections).
Figural fluency (nonverbal) was measured with the Five-Point Test (5PT) [53,54]. The test consisted of 40 five-dot matrices presented on two papers. Matrices were given in only one configuration of symmetrically and identically arranged dots (identical to the five-dot arrangement on a dice). Participants were required to produce as many different figures as possible within a time period of 2 minutes by connecting the dots within each rectangle within a 2-minute time limit. Participants were instructed that not all dots had to be used. However, participants were requested to complete the task by following two rules, i.e. no figures were to be repeated, and only straight lines between dots were permitted. The number of unique designs created was used as a measure of figural fluency. Interrater reliability (ICC) of the 5PT was excellent, ranging from .998 to 1.0. Test-retest reliability was found to be .77 for a retest period of one minute. Associations to other measures of cognition supported the construct validity of the 5PT.
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