PROBLEMThe Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test@) is a popular test for diagnosing organicity. In 1960, Hutt and Briskin introduced a scoring system for the BenderGestalt in which a S would be diagnosed as organic if he made 5 or more of the following types of errors on the Bender-Gestalt: (1) rotation, (2) overlapping difficulty, (3) closure difficulty, (4) cohesion, (5) perseveration, (6) retrogression, (7) angulation difficulty, (8) fragmentation, (9) collision, (10) simplification, (11) impotence, and (12) motor incoordination'E). Brilliant and Gynther ( 3 ) found the Hutt-Briskin scoring system to be quite easy t o apply and, more importantly, quite effective in differentiating normal Ss from organic Ss when used with a heterogeneous sample of psychiatric patients. Brilliant and Gynther (3 ) and other researchers ) also noted a significant correlation between intelligence and performance on the Bender-Gestalt. It seems reasonable, therefore, to question whether the Hutt-Briskin scoring system is equally effective in differentiating normal Ss from organic Ss a t different I& levels. This study evaluated the relationship of I& t o Bender-Gestalt errors as measured by the Hutt-Briskin scoring system and examined the discriminative power of this scoring system for various I& ranges. METHODThe Ss were 240 patients hospitalized in a large state mental hospital. Of these Ss, 120 were diagnosed chronic brain syndrome by their admitting physician. The physician's diagnosis was made without knowledge of the results of psychological testing. Moreover, these patients met a t least one, and in many cases several, of the following criteria above and beyond that of diagnosis of CBS by the admitting physician: (1) history of epilepsy; (2) history of seizures; (3) abnormal EEG; (4) diagnosis of CBS by a consulting neurologist; ( 5 ) identifiable brain lesion or tumor; (6) established destruction of brain tissue through intrusion of foreign bodies or through stroke.The remaining 120 Ss were patients diagnosed as functional disorders with no history of alcoholism, brain trauma or other neurological disorders, and who appeared normal on a neurological examination. All Ss had been administered both a Full Scale WAIS and a Bender-Gestalt as part of an admission evaluation. On the basis of the WAIS I& scores, 20 organic and 20 nonorganic Ss were assigned to each of the following groups: I& 60 -69; I& 70 -79; I& 80 -89; I& 90 -99; I& 100 -109; I& 110 and above. Each organic S who had a secondary diagnosis of psychosis or neurosis was matched with a nonorganic S from the same I& range who also had a diagnosis of psychosis or neurosis respectively. All organic Ss without secondary diagnoses were matched with nonorganic Ss with diagnoses of personality disorder. The Bender-Gestalt of each patient was then coded to avoid patient identification. Following coding, each of the three authors of this study was randomly assigned 80 of the 240 Bender-Gestdts for scoring according to the Hutt-Briskin scoring system. Prior to such scoring, however...

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Rotter's (1966) concept of locus of control was suggested as a generalized expectancy variable. An individual with internal control sees his own skills and efforts as causal factors in his life experiences. An externally controlled person blames fate, luck, or other people. Schizophrenics have a highly external perception of personal control (Harrow & Ferrante, 1969).The present investigation related locus of control to the process-reactive dimension where the process schizophrenic (P) with a poorer premorbid adjustment was predicted to be significantly more external than the reactive schizophrenic (R). The 5s were 25 R, 25 P, and 25 nonschizophrenic psychiatric controls.The P-R distinction was made on the basis of questionnaire data (DeWolfe, 1968) with Rs scoring under 13 and Ps over 17 on the Phillips scale. The three groups were matched on age, education, institutionalization, and paranoid symptoms. The 5s were administered the internal-external (I-E) scale in groups.As predicted, Ps were more external in perceived control than the Rs (p < .001) or nonschizophrenic controls (p < .01), who did not differ significantly from each other. These results suggested that within schizophrenia, locus of control is a function of long-term social learning based on level of premorbid adjustment, and is not simply the result of current symptoms.This difference in perception of personal con-1 Reprints and an extended report of this study may be obtained without charge from Alan S.

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