Hospitalized chronic alcoholic patients without field-dependent performance in the rod-and-frame test

Hospitalized male chronic alcoholics (n = 60) fully employed and with no history of malnutrition were compared with matched nonalcoholic controls (n = 50) on the Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT). The RFT scores of the alcoholics were not significantly worse than those of the controls. This is in marked contrast to earlier reports of RFT field dependence in unemployed, indigent alcoholics and supports Burdick's findings with the Embedded Figures Test.