A test in which the task is to locate simple geometrical forms that are embedded in more complex figures (see figures below for examples). Performance is scored as the mean time taken to detect all 24 simple forms. A paper-and-pencil group version requires finding 25 hidden figures by tracing over them. In addition, there is a simplified version of the test for children up to the age of 7 years. The test is designed to measure individual differences in cognitive style and analytical ability. In total, there have been up to 20 different ways of describing cognitive style, but the most common application has been in terms of the dimension field dependence-field independence based on the theory of psychological differentiation, devised by Herman A. Witkin (1902-199), covering not only perception, but also personality and intelligence. He embellished the figures test designed by Kurt Gottschaldt (1902-1991), first published in 1926, through the addition of coloured patterns aimed at increasing complexity of the figures, following the derivation of other related measures of cognitive style such as those obtainable from the rod-and-frame test. In contrast to, for example, Howard Gardner‘s theory of multiple intelligences, Witkin’s theory does not make the assumption that language abilities are distinct entities from other expressions of functioning, but rather that individuals can be located on a continuum between field independence and dependence in terms of a range of abilities (e.g., between serialist and holist, analytical and intuitive modes of extracting information, as well as being less or more influenced by social contexts, respectively). In recent years, evidence has accrued that some so-called ‘high-functioning’ autists and those with Asperger’s syndrome perform faster on the EFT compared to ‘normal’ controls, thus revealing some ‘islets’ of abilities.
