Corsi's block-tapping test: some characteristics of the spatial path which influence memory.

By using a sequence of digits it is possible to indicate the path of Corsi's block-tapping test by drawing a line to join the central points of the cubes which make up the sequence. By doing this one can analyze the sequence of digits according to quantitative parameters. There were three characteristics of the spatial path taken into consideration in this research: the number of cubes which constitute a series of digits, the number of times the path intersected itself, and the length of the path measured in millimeters. The experiment, carried out with 70 university students, showed that all three factors were significant on analysis of variance, and also that there were differences between the sexes, the men performing better. No interactions were significant. Despite this, additional significant differences were found among the series with the same number of cubes, intersections, and length, meaning that other variables influence the difficulty of the spatial path.