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Pyramids and Palmtrees: A test of semantic access from words and pictures.
Authors:
Howard, D. & Patterson, K.
Reference:
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Thames Valley Test Company.
Year of publication:
1992
CBU number:
2798
Abstract:
The purpose of The Pyramids and Palm Trees Test is to assess a person's ability to access detailed semantic representations from words and from pictures. This test of picture and word association consists of triads of items, in which one item, given at the top, has to be matched to one of two others. For example a pyramid has to be matched to a pine tree or a palm tree. The two choices are always semantic coordinates, whereas the item at the top is usually from a different category. The choice must always be made on the basis of some property or association that is shared by the given item and the target; a variety of different types of association are involved across the 52 test triads. Each individual triad can be performed on the basis of partial information from the three stimulus items. However, because different triads tap a variety of kinds of knowledge, subjects will only be able to perform with consistent accuracy if they can retrieve complete and correct semantic information from the three items in each of the triads.
