Perceptual Correlates of the Rod-and-Frame Test

Abstract

A randomly selected group of 92 male college students were given a battery of 10 perceptual tests, most of which have been used to separate field-independents from field-dependents in earlier studies of relationships between perceptual mode and physiological response tendencies. Test scores were factor analyzed in an attempt to define the psychological domain measured. Four factors accounted for most of the test score variance; the embedded figures test, sharing much of its variance with quantitative-spatial IQ tests, was the test with least of its variance accounted for. The rod-and-frame test, core test for field-dependence, correlated best with mirror-tracing speed, mirror-tracing accuracy, and the embedded figures test and had small or moderate positive correlations with all of the other tests except letter discrimination, which showed little relationship to any other test. Subject-controlled rod-and-frame correlated highly with experimenter-controlled rod-and-frame, suggesting their interchangeability as measures of field-dependence. Ss with rod-and-frame errors of 1.5° or less did significantly better on the rest of the perceptual battery than Ss with errors of 8° or more The embedded-figures test and the Draw-A-Person test were especially divergent for the two extreme rod-and-frame groups, suggesting their efficacy as screening devices for extreme field-dependents and independents.