was developed in the early 1970s as a visuospatial counterpart to the verbal-memory span task (Milner, 1971). Over the years, it has frequently been used to assess visuospatial short-term memory performance in adults (e.g. Smyth & Scholey, 1992), children (e.g. Orsini, Schiappa, & Grossi, 1981), and patients with neuropsychological deficits (e.g. Vilkki & Holst, 1989).
The original Corsi apparatus consisted of a set of nine identical blocks (3 X 3 X 3 cm) irregularly positioned on a wooden board (23 X 28 cm). The experimenter points to a series of blocks at a rate of one block per second. Subsequently, the participant is required to point to the same blocks in their order of presentation. The length of the block sequences increases until recall is no longer correct.
Numerous variations have since been employed in both display characteristics (e.g. colour, number and size of the blocks, block placement, size of the board) and test administration (e.g. presentation rate, block sequences, recall order, scoring technique) (for a review, see Berch, Krikorian, & Huha, 1998).
Progenitor of: block tapping test Definition contributed by NPicchetti about one year ago.