RT Journal
A1 STRONG PN, Jr.
T1 EFfects of age, education, and brain damage on a learning digit symbol test
JF A.M.A. Archives of General Psychiatry
JO A.M.A. Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 1959
FD November 1
VO 1
IS 5
SP 506
OP 512
DO 10.1001/archpsyc.1959.03590050074009
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1959.03590050074009
AB The test to be reported on in this paper was designed to evaluate certain assumptions about the effects of cortical brain damage in humans. It is hoped that eventually the degree of differentiation will be accurate enough to justify the use of the instrument as a diagnostic tool. Therefore a control group was used typical of the type of patient population from which the usual differential diagnosis is made.The test was designed to sample four areas shown by animal and human experiments to be sensitive to organic brain damage. These are visual-motor speed, learning, memory, and flexibility.Visual-motor speed, as measured by the digit symbol test, is an ability severely affected by factors interfering with intellectual efficiency. Busse, Barnes, Friedman, and Kelty (1956) showed this test to be most severely affected by the aging process. Cohen’s (1957) factor analysis of the WAIS indicates that