Oral stereognosis: effect of varying form set, answer type, and retention time.

The oral stereognosis abilities of 40 young adults were investigated as a function of oral stereognosis form sets (four sets), retention time (unlimited and 5 sec), and response type (oral discrimination and visual recognition). Results showed that the Penn State forms were the easiest for the subjects under all conditions and that the Ringel form set was the most difficult under all conditions. A significant interaction between oral form sets and answer type indicated that the visual recognition task, rather than the discrimination task, was primarily responsible for the differences between the oral form sets. A three-way interaction revealed that the retention times had a significant effect on the two form sets of medium difficulty (NIDR-10 and NIDR-20) for the visual recognition condition. The results are discussed in view of their research and clinical implications.