[From Pat Alfano]
Monday July 27, 1992
Thanks for the input on the analysis for my stick patterns.
I guess I should have supplied more information with my request for help
on analyzing my stick pattern data.
My main goal in analyzing the data is to show that the stick test is not
necessarily testing what neuropsychologists say it is testing, and to
show, at least in part why this is so. If I could also tell them what
it is testing, that would be a bonus.
Basically the stick test is thougt to be a test of spatial ability and to
require mental rotation. It is thought to test ones' ability to find
one's way around in his or her environment, to read maps, etc. If a
brain injured person has trouble doing this it is thought that the part
of the brain that performs mental rotation has been injured, and that
part of the brain is most likely on the right side, probably in the
temporoparietal area.
My argument is that there is no evidence that this task requires mental
rotation (whatever that is) in order to be successfully completed, and
that there is no evidence that it is a task of spatial aability
(whatever that is).
I know that to simply ask subjects what strategies thy used to complete
the task does not get at what they actually did, but, I was hoping to
show those who use the test that they need to discover exactly what it
is people are doing when performing the task; and to point out to them
that they are relying on assumptions when interpreting the results. I
also wanted to point out that normal people have trouble doing the sick
test and therefore no conlcusions can be drawn about a brain injued
person who cannot do the test.
By the way, I did count errors. I also videotaped subjects doing the
stick test during a pilot study.
I would like to make suggestions about how neuropsychologists should
look for what it is exactly people are doing when performing the stick
test or similar tasks. You both have given me some ideas on what I
might suggest.
At the present I am not planning on studying the phenomenon myself,
but may be interested in doing so in the future. I would like to
know what goes on in someones head when performing a task such as
this. Have I set my sights too high?
Pat
···
To: Bill Powers and David Goldstein