LATERALITY DIFFERENCES IN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE HOOPER PERFORMANCE

The Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT) is a measure of visuospatia l processing commonly employed in neuropsychological assessment. Despi te the well-documented relationship between visuospatial abilities and right hemisphere function, the literature has not supported a right h emisphere association with HVOT performance. The current study was con ducted to examine laterality differences in HVOT performance. Sixty-se ven geriatric stroke patients (44 right CVAs, 23 left CVAs) were admin istered the HVOT and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMS). Results reveale d significant differences between CVA groups for total score, with rig ht CVA patients performing more poorly. Qualitative error analyses rev ealed highest frequencies for part responses and don't know/no respons e errors. Between-group differences were seen for part and unformed/un associated errors (higher right CVA rates), and language-based errors (higher left CVA rates). Findings are consistent with theories of brai n lateralization and suggest that whereas HVOT performance predominant ly involves right hemisphere functions, left hemisphere dysfunction ma y also lead to impaired performance, and the two can be discriminated by qualitative analysis of the errors.