Exploratory principal component analysis of the Benton visual form discrimination test, matching subtest (VFDT-MAT) using the WAIS-IV, visuospatial, and language tasks

The psychometric properties of the Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test, Matching (VFDT-MAT) subtest remain understudied. Preliminary evidence from dissertation research suggests that it involves intellectual (verbal and nonverbal ability and efficiency), visuospatial, and expressive language abilities, but these findings have not yet been empirically tested. To empirically test these findings, we conducted an exploratory principal component analysis of the Benton VFDT-MAT, using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; multidimensional intellect via its 4 indices), the Benton Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO; visuospatial), and the Boston Naming Test (BNT; expressive language). Under the supervision of a clinical neuropsychologist, neuropsychology trainees administered neuropsychological evaluations to a United States (U.S.) Military Veteran sample (<i>n</i> = 231; age = 52.71 years old ± .95 years). We conducted a series of principal component analyses (PCAs) to examine the dimensional relationships among the VFDT-MAT, WAIS-IV, JLO, and BNT. Our final descriptive component solution resulted in a high degree of test variance explained by the model (80.77%) and clear dimensionality among the four components produced. The first component produced in the final solution appeared to potentially be verbally mediated (29.18%), while components two (17.41%), three (17.25%), and four (16.93%) appeared to potentially be nonverbally mediated and shared similar variance. Results suggest that visual discrimination, as measured by the VFDT-MAT, requires verbal and nonverbal ability, cognitive efficiency, as well as visuospatial and expressive language skills. Accordingly, clinicians may be able to interpret item successes and failures on the VFDT-MAT through a process-based approach within the context of the aforementioned domain test performances.