The role of learning in performance on Halstead's category test

Abstract

The Halstead Category Test demands diverse and complex activities which recruit virtually all areas of the cerebral cortex. It was hypothesized that the Category Test may be viewed as a test of learning. The neuropsychological protocols of 159 referrals of diverse etiology at a mid western Veteran's Administration Medical Center formed the sample for the present study. It was concluded that, while learning, defined as reductions of errors over time, had been isolated as a determinant of item behavior as predicted, it was a determinant of modest importance. Two features seemingly intrinsic to the Category Test itself were far more important predictors of Category Test item performance than was learning. These included item stimulus characteristics and an interaction between subjects' response biases and the characteristics of the item stimuli. Certain factors that are important for a more detailed examination of the learning process on the Category Test, such as item difficulty, are not well balanced or controlled. Development of new tasks based upon the Category Test paradigm will require attention to these psychometric and statistical properties.