The King’s Copy and Reproduction Test of a Complex Figure was initially designed by André Rey with the objective of evaluating perceptual organization and visual memory in individuals with brain injury. Subsequently, it has been used to evaluate other types of pathologies and is currently a widely used tool in the evaluation of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
The test consists of copy and then reproduce a complex geometric drawing and is aimed at subjects with suspected memory deficiency. This is a test for individual application and variable time, in children from 4 years of age and adults.
The subject must copy the model of the King Figure, whether for a child or adult, indicating that the reproduction does not necessarily have to be exact, but that it must pay attention to the details and proportions.
The subject is given a piece of paper and a colored pencil and begins his or her copying. When part of the drawing has been completed, a pencil of a different color is given and the subject is asked to continue drawing with it. In this way he is made to use five or six different colors. By noting the order of succession of the colors, it is possible to discover, when analyzing the drawing, the progress followed in the copying process. If in the course of copying the subject changes the position of the model, it must be returned to the initial position. Finally, you are asked if you have finished and the time taken is noted. To simplify time recording, we take it to the upper minute.
Model memory playback
After a certain amount of time has elapsed in the copying phase (an interval that does not exceed 3 minutes), you are asked to reproduce the figure without having it in sight.
Indications
The subject is instructed to redraw the previous figure on a second blank sheet and the test execution time is controlled with a stopwatch.
Below are details of the different types of copy defined by PA Osterrieth: The categories have been ordered from highest to lowest, by their degree of rational level, at the same time by intellectual habits, the speed of copying and the precision of the result.
Construction on the frame:
The subject begins his drawing with the central rectangle, which they erect as a framework, on which he then groups all the other details of the figure. This is built on the basis of the large rectangle that serves as a reference and starting point.
Details included in a frame:
The subject begins with one or another detail adjacent to the large rectangle; for example, the cross at the top of the left side, or he draws the large rectangle including some of the details in it, and uses it as the framework of his drawing, just as in type I. It is also assimilated to this type II a an unusual process, which consists of drawing the diagonals of the rectangle before its outline, then using it as a framework.
III. General outline:
The subject begins his drawing by reproducing the full outline of the figure, without explicitly differentiating the central rectangle. The subject thus obtains a kind of “container” in which all the interior details are later placed.
IV. Juxtaposition of details:
The subject builds the details adjacent to each other, proceeding as if constructing a puzzle. There is no directing element of the reproduction, the finished figure is a recognizable whole, and may even be perfectly achieved.
V. Details on a confusing background:
The subject makes a graphic, little or nothing structured, in which it would not be possible to identify the model, but with certain recognizable details, at least in its intention.
SAW. Reduction to a family scheme:
The subject transfers the figure to a scheme that is familiar to him and that can sometimes vaguely remember the general shape of the model or some of its elements (house, boat, fish, etc.)
VII. Scrawl:
The subject simply makes some scribbles in which it is not possible to recognize any of the elements of the model nor its overall shape.
Next we are going to evaluate the elements: Although it is useful to identify the type of copy, the accuracy of the copy and reproduction represent other variables, which must be correctly evaluated, considering the number of elements, the precision with which they are copied, and its spatial location.
Q. A Osterrieth, based on the continuity of certain lines, has divided the figure into 18 parts that can be assimilated to as many units and that are presented both in the copy and in the reproduction from memory. Below is the graphic scheme:
The scales in relation to the accuracy and richness of the copy and copying time (Spanish data) appear in tables 3 and 4 of the booklet.
To evaluate the results of the reproduction phase, after copying, the same variables will be taken into account than for the first phase of testing, that is, the type of construction, the accuracy and richness of the reproduction and the speed of the work.
The scales corresponding to the first two concepts appear in the booklet in tables 5 and 6.