Field Independence and Intellectual Functioning in Preschool Children

Abstract

In order to determine whether performance on the Preschool Embedded-figures Test, a measure of field independence for young children, involves processes shared by aspects of intellectual functioning, a factor analysis which included the Preschool Embedded-figures Test and all of the subtests of the WPPSI was carried out on a group of 169 4½-yr.-olds. For both sexes the Preschool Embedded-figures Test loaded a common factor shared also by WPPSI Block Design and Geometric Design. This factor was identified as a perceptual analytic factor and was demonstrated to be similar to the analytic factor identified by Goodenough and Karp (1961) at older age levels.