[Effects of instructions on Baumtest drawings by elderly people]

Previous studies using the Baumtest (Tree-Drawing Test) reported that tree drawings by elderly people rarely show trees with crowns, in comparison to trees drawn by younger people. This difference may be an index of developmental changes resulting from aging. However, since these studies instructed participants to draw a single fruit-bearing tree, the kinds of trees that elderly people visualized may have been different from those visualized by younger people. In this study, 111 mentally healthy people over 65 years of age were divided into two groups: Group 1 (N = 61, mean age = 72.7 years) was asked to draw a single tree and Group 2 (N = 50, mean age = 73.4 years) was asked to draw a single fruit-bearing tree. The results show that the frequency of trees with crowns drawn by Group 1 was lower than Group 2 (Chi2(1) = 21.04, p < .01). This suggests that the decrease in trees with crowns drawn by elderly people resulted from differences in instructions, in addition to possible developmental changes.