ABSTRACT
Block design is a timed test of visuospatial construction and nonverbal problem-solving that was first developed by Kohs (1923) as a measure of intelligence. Modifications of Kohs' blocks have been incorporated into the Wechsler scales of intelligence for both adults and children and are therefore widely used in clinical practice (Kaufman, 1990). Performance on this task is strongly correlated with Performance and Full Scale IQ measures (Sattler, 2001). In addition to its high g loading and importance as a component in intellectual assessment, block design is also known to be sensitive to visuo-spatial deficits and to cerebral dysfunction (Lezak, 1995), a finding that has led to a prominent place for this task in neuropsychological assessment. Throughout this chapter, “block design” will be used to refer to the standardized Wechsler versions of the task, unless otherwise specified.
