Hyperactive and normal children and the error, latency, and double median split scoring procedures of the matching familiar figures test

Abstract

To further evaluate the construct validity of Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF), three different scoring methods—the MFF error measure, the MFF latency measure, and Kagan's double median split—were used to compare learning disabled and behavior disordered boys at two age levels with their normal peers on the frequency with which they were designated as impulsive. In the comparison of 7-year-old and 12-year-old learning disabled boys with the normal children, the MFF error measure identified a greater frequency of the learning disabled boys as impulsive at both age levels. No differences occurred between the learning disabled and the normal boys at either age level on the latency measure. Kagan's double median split procedure differentiated only between the older learning disabled and the normal boys. Thus, combining the latency measure with the error measure detracted from the effectiveness of the error measure. None of the MFF scoring procedures differentiated between the behavior disordered and the normal boys at either age level. Although the findings tend to support the results of studies with normal children in indicating that the error measure is more sensitive than the latency measure, the failure of the error measure to designate a greater frequency of the severely behavior disordered boys as being impulsive than are their normal peers raises further questions about the construct validity of the MFF, regardless of the scoring procedure used.