Response Bias in SAET Responses of Persons with Organic Brain Damage

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not patients suffering from organic brain damage were biased in their responses to the Spiral Aftereffect Test (SAET), which is currently being used as a clinical tool to aid in the detection of brain damage. The SAET was administered once to three groups of 15 brain-damaged patients and then readministered, with groups receiving non-stress, neutral, or stress instructions. It was hypothesized that the three organic groups would have different response levels on the second administration as a function of instructions. This was supported by analysis of covariance of raw scores.