The Leuven Embedded Figures Test (L-EFT): measuring perception, intelligence or executive function?

PeerJ

article

Hanne Huygelier¹  Ruth Van der Hallen¹  Johan Wagemans¹  Lee de-Wit¹  Rebecca Chamberlain¹ 

[1] Laboratory for Experimental Psychology;Cognitive Aspects of Psychopathology, Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam;Cognition and Language Sciences, Chandler House, University College London;Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London

关键词: Intelligence;    Perceptual style;    Executive functions;    Weak central coherence;    Embedded figures;    EFT;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.4524

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Performance on the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) has been interpreted as a reflection of local/global perceptual style, weak central coherence and/or field independence, as well as a measure of intelligence and executive function. The variable ways in which EFT findings have been interpreted demonstrate that the construct validity of this measure is unclear. In order to address this lack of clarity, we investigated to what extent performance on a new Embedded Figures Test (L-EFT) correlated with measures of intelligence, executive functions and estimates of local/global perceptual styles. In addition, we compared L-EFT performance to the original group EFT to directly contrast both tasks. Taken together, our results indicate that performance on the L-EFT does not correlate strongly with estimates of local/global perceptual style, intelligence or executive functions. Additionally, the results show that performance on the L-EFT is similarly associated with memory span and fluid intelligence as the group EFT. These results suggest that the L-EFT does not reflect a general perceptual or cognitive style/ability. These results further emphasize that empirical data on the construct validity of a task do not always align with the face validity of a task.

【 授权许可】

CC BY