Construct validity of tests of verbal and visual mental imagery

Abstract

To examine the construct validity of a verbal and visual mental imagery task, 59 male and female neurologically impaired patients were administered the imagery tasks as well as the Wechsler Memory Scale and The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -Revised. Pearson- product correlation coefficients and a factor analysis were conducted between the two imagery tasks and the various subtests and IQ scores from the Wechsler scales. Results showed modality-specific correlations between the verbal and visual imagery tasks and verbal and visual cognitive abilities. The imagery tasks also showed secondary loadings on an attention/concentration factor. The results support the convergent and discriminative validity of these two imagery tasks as measures of verbal and visual functioning after brain injury.