Level of Perceptual Development as Reflected in Responses to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique

To investigate the relationships between chronological age and scores on 10 variables from the Holtzman Inkblot Technique, 586 normal Ss comprising five criterion age-groups ranging from 5.2 to 19.5 years were tested. Each group had an equal number of males and females. Following a statistical correction for number of rejections, a sex-by-age analysis of variance revealed no significant sex differences or sex-by-age interactions. However, significant age-group differences were found for all 10 variables, six of them resulting in steadily increasing means across the five groups. These age trends are consistent with the sequence of perceptual change outlined by developmental theory, and are interpreted as indicating a developmental shift in the dominance of perceptual functions.