The Group Embedded Figures Test: a measure of cognitive style or cognitive impairment

The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) purports to be a measure of field articulation. The extent to which the GEFT measures apsects of personality and cognitive impairment was explored. Eighty-one male alcoholics, mean age of 42.9, receiving treatment for alcoholism at the Seattle VA Medical Center were administered the GEFT, Shipley Hartford Institute of Living Scale, the Trail Making Test (TMT), and the Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ). Multiple regression analysis indicates that Part B of the TMT and the residual abstraction score from the Shipley share 32% of the common variance with GEFT. The CAQ second-order factors of depression and independence also contributed significantly to the regression equation accounting for an additional 10% of the common variance. The results suggest the GEFT may be more a measure of cognitive impairment than personality. Alternative explanations are explored.