Race and Rorschach Signs of Brain Damage in Cerebral Thrombosis

Abstract

In an attempt to identify Rorschach signs which would differentiate the brain-damaged regardless of race, a study was made of 225 Caucasian and 127 Negro patients between 40 and 80 yr. of age. There was known brain damage (cerebral thrombosis) in 204 patients, and no known brain damage in 148 patients (myocardial infarction). Each of 31 Rorschach signs of cerebral impairment was studied to determine its power in discriminating Caucasian damaged from nondamaged and Negro damaged from nondamaged patients. A combination of 13 signs was thereby selected in which race did not appear to be a significant factor. The 13-item scale differentiated brain-damaged from nondamaged Caucasian, Negro, and combined Caucasian-Negro groups, all at levels below .001. The 13-item scale correctly classified 71% of the patients, compared with 73% when all 31 signs were used.