Sensitivity of figural fluency on the five-point test to focal neurological dysfunction

Abstract

The Five-Point test, a measure of nonverbal figural fluency created by Regard, Strauss, and Knapp (1982), was administered to 258 patients (196 with neurologic disease and 62 with psychiatric disorders) to provide information on the sensitivity of the measure to frontal lobe dysfunction. Patients with frontal lobe dysfunction had a significantly higher percentage of perseverative errors than did nonfrontal neurologic and psychiatric patients on two versions of the Five-Point test. Furthermore, patients with right frontal lobe dysfunction were more often correctly classified as defective on the basis of percent perseveration than patients with cerebral dysfunction in other brain regions. These data provide evidence of the sensitivity of the Five-Point test to brain damage generally and to frontal lobe dysfunction specifically.