Sm. Crawford et al., A revised spatial serial learning and memory procedure using Corsi's block-tapping apparatus, PERC MOT SK, 91(2), 2000, pp. 669-674
The purpose of this study was to use Corsi's Block Tapping Test as a spatia
l analog of Benton's Serial Digit Learning Test, using the cognitive neuros
cience approach utilized in the California Verbal Learning Test. 60 normal
participants, ages 19-52 years, were included and administered an 8-block s
equence for 9 trials or until they recalled the entire sequence for 3 conse
cutive errorless trials. The score was the number of blocks tapped in the c
orrect serial order, An interference trial was administered. Following a 10
-min. delay, free recall of the original sequence, cued recall, and recogni
tion measures were obtained. Retroactive interference was significant, but
no proactive interference emerged. Scores showed a strong primacy effect. M
ost participants who learned the sequence to the criterion of three success
ive errorless trials recalled the sequence after the 10-min. delay. Scores
on the cued recall and recognition trials fended to support their validity
as less demanding retrieval tasks. The use of this spatial learning and mem
ory procedure allows finer discriminations among nonverbal memory deficits
and may facilitate direct comparisons with scores on verbal memory tasks su
ch as Serial Digit Learning and the California Verbal Learning Test.