THE REY-OSTERRIETH COMPLEX FIGURE TEST AS A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURE IN CRIMINAL OFFENDERS

What does the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (CFT) measure in crim inal offenders? This study examined neuropsychological and personality rest correlates of performance on the Complex Figure Test in a sample of 110 incarcerated criminal offenders. Three standard CFT scores-cop y accuracy, memory recall accuracy and organizational quality-did not discriminate between violent and nonviolent offenders, and were not co rrelated with either Psychopathy Checklist scores or self-reported ang er using the Novaco Anger Scales. CFT performance was significantly co rrelated with two other standard neuropsychological measures, a short form of the Category Test and the Trail Making Test As might be expect ed, CFT scores were positively correlated with WAIS-R Block Design, an d to a lesser extent Vocabulary. Organizational quality scores were si gnificantly cor related with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Approxim ately 27 to 36% of the variance in CFT scores could be explained by th e combination of minority status, measures of nonverbal cognitive perf ormance, and self-reported impulsivity. (C) 1997 National Academy of N europsychology.