Measuring Icon symbolic Classification: It doesn't MAP out

Abstract

The iconic-symbolic (I-S) subtest of the Muma Assessment Program (MAP), designed for use as a clinical tool for identifying representational processes in children, is based on the Bruner (1966) model of development. The current study was intended to develop normative data, especially the ability of the I-S to identify adult subjects as preforming at the higheest of Bruner's cognitive states (the symbolic level). The I-S was administered to 80 unimpaired adult subjects under two instruction conditions; those recommended in the I-S protocols and a revised version more akin to instructions used in classic studies of classification ability. Using the I-S instructions, only a minority of subjects (18 of 80) functioned at the symbolic level as defined by the I-S procedures. Contingent analysis revealed the revised instructions to be significantly more successful in evoking the expected symbolic performance. Even so, surprisingly few addult subjects demonstrated a symbolic pattern. Findings are discussed in terms of the construct validity of the I-S subtest, alternatives to the stage-based model of represnetation are reviewed, and modifications in the clinical use of the I-S subtest are suggested.

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