The performance of elderly subjects on Gooddy's arrow drawing test.

Abstract

Gooddy & Reinhold (1964) described a simple test which they claimed may be of value in detecting early or slight disease of the brain, especially of the minor or non‐dominant hemisphere. The test consisted of asking patients to draw arrows in a number of specified directions. The present report describes results obtained from the administration of the test to a group of elderly psychiatric patients, a group of ‘normal’ elderly subjects, and a group of psychiatric patients under the age of 65 years.The elderly psychiatric group consisted of 54 patients; 27 were diagnosed as either senile or arteriosclerotic dementias (mean age 76·0 years, S.D. 7·0) and the majority of the remainder were classified as depressions (mean age 72·2 years, S.D. 6·6). The normal group consisted of 40 subjects who had been selected at random from the lists of local general practitioners and were investigated as part of a wider social‐psychiatric investigation. Seven were, in fact, considered to be showing evidence of psychiatric abnormality (three organic, four functional). The mean age of this group was 73·9 years (S.D. 5·9). The psychiatric group under 65 years consisted of 54 approximately consecutive hospital admissions (mean age 41·0 years, S.D. 12·1); none was considered to be suffering from any form of brain damage. Patients in the elderly psychiatric group and in the normal elderly group were, in addition to the arrow test, given a short battery of psychometric tests of intellectual impairment.The method of administration of the arrow test was altered slightly from that described by Gooddy. An arrow (→) was drawn on a sheet of paper in full view of the subject with the instructions, ‘This is an arrow pointing to this side of the paper’. The model was then removed and the subject asked to draw arrows in each of six specified directions. No comment was made on the quality of any drawing.