Junior high norms for the Bender Gestalt

Several age gaps now exist within the normative data supporting the Bender Gestalt. One of these is for subjects within the junior high years. The present study was conducted to fill this gap and thus to supply junior high norms where none now exist. The normative group used in the study consisted of 135 junior high students, ages 12 through 14. Each was individually given the Bender Gestalt, and the resulting test protocols were then scored using the Pascal and Suttell scoring technique. Tables were then prepared to enable the clinician to transform the number of errors made on the Bender and/or the time required to complete the test into appropriate T scores. Subsequent statistical analysis of test results revealed that the subject's performance was not significantly related to sex, the occupation of the primary bread winner within the family, or the interaction between these two factors. As a result of this finding it would appear that these variables do not have to be controlled for in the norming of any future visual motor tests at the junior high level.     

Differential Diagnosis with the Bender Gestalt Test

Forty-two patients, 18 of whom were diagnosed as organic and 24 as having a functional psychiatric disorder, were given the Bender Gestalt test. Both the Hain (1964) and the Pascal and Suttell (1951) scoring systems gave mean scores for the two groups which were different at beyond the .001 level of significance. The Pascal-Suttell also gave a significant difference between means when either patient group was compared with normals. Using a previously established cutoff score for the Hain, 76% of the patients were correctly classified, as compared with 81% by a clinical expert on the Bender.     

New studies of adults' responses to the Bender Gestalt

The Bender-Gestalt test originated in 1936 with Lauretta Bender for evaluating perceptual and motor development of children 4 to 11 yr. old. Koppitz (1964) developed a scoring system for the test. Lacks (1984) contributed normative data for testing adults. Seven studies since Lacks' which have contributed to normative data of adults' responses to the Bender-Gestalt are reviewed here.     

Bender Gestalt Evaluation of Brain Dysfunction Following Open-Heart Surgery

The heart-lung machine makes open-heart surgery possible by providing extracorporeal blood circulation; however, it creates microemboli in the blood that cause neurological damage. A new filter, designed to remove these emboli, was assessed by preoperative and postoperative Bender Gestalt testing. A lesser degree of the kinds of visual-motor difficulties associated with neurological deficit was produced by patients who received filtered blood. Postoperative impairment was assessed with some precision by using the Pascal-Suttell method of scoring distortions of Bender designs. The Bender scores were consistent with ultrasonic (sonar) counts of microemboli.     

Bender Gestalt signs as indicants of conceptual impulsivity.

Sixty children were individually administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Bender Gestalt Test. The mean age of the subjects was 10 years, 11 months. A significant relationship was found between errors on the Bender Gestalt test and impulsivity. More specifically, increased or decreased loops (figure four or six), change in angulation, loops for circles and circles for dots or dots for circles were all significantly related to children's impulsivity.     

Concurrent validation of Hutt's Bender Gestalt screening method for schizophrenia, depression, and brain damage

The effectiveness of Hutt's Bender Gestalt scoring system in screening for schizophrenia, depression, and brain damage was investigated in a sample of mixed, psychiatric inpatients. Fifteen patients represented each diagnostic category. After an examination of each patient's Bender Gestalt protocol according to Hutt's criteria, it was found that the true positive and true negative success rates of the screening procedures for depression and brain damage were significantly higher than corresponding base rates. The Lacks Bender Gestalt screening method for brain damage was no more successful than the Hutt method in identifying true positives and true negatives. With the brain-damaged patients excluded, Hutt's screening procedures for both depression and schizophrenia resulted in significantly high rates of successful identification of true positives and true negatives. Moreover, these rates did not significantly differ from those determined by patients' Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) T scores on corresponding scales.     

An Indicator of Suicidal Ideation on the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test

Hospitalized psychiatric patients responding on the Bender-Gestalt Test with the ‘penetration’ of Design 6 into Design 5, did display significantly more suicidal ideation in the predicted direction than did a matched control group (P < .005). The results were taken to suggest the utility of combining this variable with other predictive criteria derived from Rorschach research to help the clinician make recommendations about suicidally ideated psychiatric patients.     

Bender Gestalt test performance as a predictor of differential reading performance

Sixty Ss (two groups of second graders, with differential reading skills and average or above intelligence, matched with regard to CA, IQ, and sex) were compared on Bender test performance. No significant differences were found for rotations, integrations, perseverations, sex, or number of errors on Designs A through 8. Although significant differences were found between groups for both Bender composite scores (p = <.05) and distortion errors (p = <.01), there was no significant difference in the number of students in each group above and below the mean Bender score for that age group.

Poor Bender performance was found as often for good readers as for poor ones. This strongly suggests that Bender performance should be used with extreme caution in predicting or diagnosing poor reading performance.     

Bender Gestalt Test performance and the word recognition skills of disadvantaged children

The Bender Gestalt Test and the WRAT reading section were administered to 147 disadvantaged children. The zero-order correlation of ?.62 was found to be moderated by the variable of age. For younger subjects, highly significant first- and second-order partial correlations were obtained with age and/or WISC information scores held constant.     

Cultural Influence on Hutt's Adaptation of Bender Gestalt Test: A Pilot Study

To test the hypothesis that Hutt's Adaptation of the Bender Gestalt designs is “culture free,” two groups, one American and one East Indian of 21 graduate students, each majoring in Engineering or Sciences were administered the 9 designs of B-G in accordance with the three phases of Hutt's Adaptation of the B-G test. Results indicate: a) Performance on the Elaboration Phase on cards 2 and 4 was significantly different between the Groups, b) Ss in both Groups showed significantly different levels of difficulty in Copying the B-G designs, and c) There is no significant interaction between the Groups and the performance on the Copy Phase of the B-G designs.     

The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test as an Index of Emotional Disturbance in Children

Millon (1985) presented eight criticisms of the article by Widiger, Williams, Spitzer, and Frances (1985) on the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III. This article is a brief rejoinder. The major point we wish to make is that one should be cautious in interpreting the MCMI as a measure of DSM-III disorders because there has not yet been any research published on the relationship between the MCMI and DSM-III. We believe this position has not been refuted by Millon's critique.