View source for Block design test

{{Short description|Component of many IQ tests}}
[[File:Cubes de kohs utilisés dans la Wais - R avec un exemple de figure à 4 cubes.jpg|thumb|Cubes and a target pattern used in the [[Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale]] test]]
A '''block design test''' is a subtest on many [[intelligence quotient|IQ]] test batteries used as part of assessment of [[human intelligence]]. It is thought to tap [[spatial visualization ability]] and [[motor skill]]. The test-taker uses hand movements to rearrange blocks that have various color patterns on different sides to match a pattern. The items in a block design test can be scored both by accuracy in matching the pattern and by speed in completing each item.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

==Historical background==
[[File:Kohs Block Design Test - Figure 1.jpg|thumb|Figure from ''The Block-Design tests'' by Kohs (1920) showing, in grayscale, an example of his block test.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1037/h0074466|title=The Block-Design Tests|year=1920|author=Kohs SC|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology|volume=3|issue=5|pages=357–376|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1793587}}</ref>]]

[[David Wechsler]] adapted a block design subtest for his Wechsler-Bellevue test, the predecessor of his WAIS ([[Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale]]), from the [[Kohs block design test]] developed in 1920 at [[Stanford University]] by [[Samuel Calmin Kohs]]. A later revision of the Kohs test by Hutt incorporated the time taken to complete each item into the scoring of the test.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hutt ML |title=The Kohs Block-designs test: a revision for clinical practice |journal=Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=298–307 |date=Jun 1932 |doi=10.1037/h0074559}}</ref> Wechsler followed that practice in making both accuracy and speed factors in scoring the test.

==Neuropsychological assessment==

Good performance on the block design test is indicative of appropriate functioning of the [[parietal lobe|parietal]] and [[frontal lobe]]s. [[Head injury]], [[Alzheimer's disease]], and [[stroke]] can severely reduce the performance of an individual on the block design test.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lezak MD |title=Neuropsychological assessment |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1995 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-19-509031-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/neuropsychologic0000leza }}</ref> Additional evidence suggests impairment in block design performance among [[Schizophrenia|schizophrenic]] and [[bipolar disorder]] patient populations, though this represents only preliminary findings.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/schbul/sbi009|title=Indicators of Genetic Liability to Schizophrenia: A Sibling Study of Neuropsychological Performance|year=2005|last1=Thompson|first1=J. L.|journal=Schizophrenia Bulletin|volume=31|pages=85–96|pmid=15888428|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1605| pmid=11578991| title=A Neuropsychological Investigation of Prefrontal Cortex Involvement in Acute Mania| journal=American Journal of Psychiatry| volume=158| issue=10| pages=1605–1611| year=2001| last1=Clark| first1=Luke| last2=Iversen| first2=Susan D.| last3=Goodwin| first3=Guy M.}}</ref>

== Spatial ability ==

The block design test is also a relatively accurate measure of spatial ability and [[spatial visualization ability]] used in daily life.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Groth-Marnat G, Teal M |title=Block design as a measure of everyday spatial ability: a study of ecological validity |journal=Perceptual and Motor Skills |volume=90 |issue=2 |pages=522–6 |date=Apr 2000 |pmid=10833749 |doi=10.2466/PMS.90.2.522-526 }}</ref> The block design test is considered one of the best measures of spatial ability, although it is subject to certain problems of administration, such as anxiety or over-cautious responding. Linda Kreger Silverman has proposed the block design subtest as the best putative measure of spatial ability among the Wechsler subtests.<ref>[http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/idvsls.pdf Identifying Visual-Spatial and Auditory-Sequential Learners:<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070722125405/http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/idvsls.pdf |date=July 22, 2007 }}</ref> 
== Autism spectrum disorders==
[[Uta Frith]], in her book ''Autism: Explaining the Enigma'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Frith, Uta |title=Autism: explaining the enigma |publisher=Blackwell Pub |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2003 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-631-22901-8 }}</ref> addresses the superior performance of autistic individuals on the block design test. This was also addressed in an earlier paper.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Shah A, Frith U |s2cid=18397846 |title=Why do autistic individuals show superior performance on the block design task? |journal=J Child Psychol Psychiatry |volume=34 |issue=8 |pages=1351–64 |date=Nov 1993 |pmid=8294523 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb02095.x }}</ref> One article demonstrates the differences in construction time in the performance of the block design task by individuals with and without [[Asperger syndrome]]. An essential point is that in an unsegmented version of the task, people with Asperger syndrome performed significantly faster than individuals without Aspergers.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Caron MJ, Mottron L, Berthiaume C, Dawson M |title=Cognitive mechanisms, specificity and neural underpinnings of visuospatial peaks in autism |journal=Brain |volume=129 |issue=Pt 7 |pages=1789–802 |date=Jul 2006 |pmid=16597652 |doi=10.1093/brain/awl072 |quote=Fig 3|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Science and engineering aptitude ==

Recent research has demonstrated a connection between spatial ability and math and science proficiency at the highest levels. A 2002 study in the Lancet demonstrated that high spatial ability was related to the performance of surgery.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wanzel KR, Hamstra SJ, Anastakis DJ, Matsumoto ED, Cusimano MD |title=Effect of visual-spatial ability on learning of spatially-complex surgical skills |journal=Lancet |volume=359 |issue=9302 |pages=230–1 |date=Jan 2002 |pmid=11812562 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)07441-X |s2cid=22098129 }}</ref>

== Spatial ability in pilots ==

In 1993, Dror et al. found that pilots' performance was superior to non-pilots on a test of the speed of mental rotation. Although the block design test is characterized as a test of spatial visualization, not mental rotation, spatial visualization ability as measured by the block design test is highly correlated to mental rotation ability.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/id/JAP%20visual-spatial%20abilities%20of%20pilots.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-09-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710160743/http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/id/JAP%20visual-spatial%20abilities%20of%20pilots.pdf |archivedate=2007-07-10 }}, Dror, Kosslyn and Wang. (1993). Visual-Spatial Abilities in Pilots. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(5), 763–773.</ref>

==Research in an educational context==

As performance on the block design test has been suggested as a predictive measure for performance in fields such as engineering and physics. Felder, at [[North Carolina State University]], has developed a learning style questionnaire that attempts to assess spatial ability in an educational context.<ref>Felder RM and 
Soloman BA. [http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829051632/http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html |date=2007-08-29 }}. North Carolina State University</ref>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Block Design Test}}
[[Category:Intelligence tests]]