Factor Structure of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery: A Review and Integration

Abstract

The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRNB) was the first factor-analyzed neuropsychological battery. It was based on a series of tests studied in Ward Halstead's laboratory at the University of Chicago, was accomplished in collaboration with a group of eminent statisticians, and was published in 1947. Four factors were extracted based on Halstead's tests called central integrative field, abstraction, power, and directional and constituted what was described as biological intelligence. Since this original analysis, Reitan's additions to the battery, and the proposal of Reitan and Wolfson's model of neuropsychological functioning, this factor-analytic research continued. This article reviews factor-analytic research concluding that Halstead's analysis has held up reasonably well and there is support for the Reitan and Wolfson model. However, Reitan's revisions of the battery added tests that form a distinct language factor and the sensory-perceptual tests that generally form a separate factor. Other tests and scoring methods used in individual studies modified the core battery and produced somewhat differing solutions. The complexity of the tests prevents the HRNB from being a factorially pure battery, and simple structure is rarely, if ever, reached. Current versions of the HRNB appear to evaluate both “biological” and “psychometric” intelligence, which appear to load on separate factors.