Corsi Block-Tapping Task Performance as a Function of Path Configuration

• Published in: Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology 2005-01, Vol.27 (1), p.127-134
• Main Authors: M. Busch, Robyn, Farrell, Kathleen, Lisdahl-Medina, Krista, Krikorian, Robert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Learning. Memory; Male; Memory; Memory - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Space Perception - physiology
• ISSN: 1380-3395; 1744-411X
• DOI: 10.1080/138033990513681

The Corsi Block-Tapping (CB) task has been used as a measure of spatial memory since its development in 1971. However, a standard set of items has not been developed for this task, and inconsistencies in performances within levels have been demonstrated in association with different path configurations. This study investigated item consistency by analyzing the performances of 94 young adult participants on a block-tapping task that involved five quasi-randomly determined sequences at each of nine levels of difficulty. In general, performance declined with increasing path length. Cochran Q-test comparisons were conducted on the items within each level, and differential performances were identified at levels 7 and 8 only. Pairwise comparisons determined the specific items for which performance was discrepant, and further analysis indicated that performance decrements were related to more complicated block-tapping paths. The findings suggest that this version of the CB task is relatively consistent overall, and the observed effect of path configuration indirectly corroborates the spatial nature of this task. Performance heterogeneity at higher levels reflected more complicated path configuration and, presumably, greater span capacity load. Differential intra-level item consistency should be considered in clinical applications of spatial (configural) memory tasks in order to avoid erroneous interpretations concerning sustained attention ability based on failures within levels. Some of the data contained in this paper were presented at the meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, Honolulu, February 2003.