Comparison of Task-Central and Task-Peripheral Forms of the Canter-Bip in Diagnosing Brain Damage in Adults

Abstract

As a beginning attempt to determine what aspects of the Canter-BIP task account for its sensitivity to cerebral dysfunction, a special form of the technique with background lines peripheral to the drawing area (Task-peripheral) was compared with the usual form (Task-central). The performance of a heterogeneous group of brain-damaged patients was compared with that of a group of non-brain-damaged psychiatric patients, on the two forms. The damaged group made more errors on the Bender-Gestalt and deteriorated more under BIP conditions but not differentially for the two forms. The diagnostic efficacy of the two forms did not differ meaningfully, but results indicated the need to reevaluate diagnostic criteria when applied in new situations.