Abstract

RUBIK, Bruna Salete  and  TONI, Plínio Marco de. Analysis of the factorial sctructure of the WISC-III mazes subtest. Bol. psicol [online]. 2012, vol.62, n.136, pp. 15-27. ISSN 0006-5943.

The Maze Test has been widely used in research as an instrument of neuropsychological assessment. However, there are no standardization studies for the Mazes subtest of the WISC-III. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the factorial structure of the subtest and investigate the construct validity of the mazes of the WISC-III for the executive function of planning, using exploratory factor analysis (principal components method, varimax rotation).The sample included 100 children and adolescents between 8 and 16 years, of both sexes. Two factors were extracted due to remarkable differences in the difficulty of the items that composed each factor. Finally, it was proposed as ahypothesis that the psychological construct involved in the first factor could be considered the executive function of planning due to its wide use in the measurement of planning capacity for decades.

Keywords : WISC-III; Mazes subtest; executive function; planning; factorial analysis.

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