Psychological Test, McGill Picture Anomaly Test
date: label: date made
content: 1939-1943
notes: label: Description
content: In 1937, shortly after receiving his PhD. in psychology from Harvard University, psychologist and neuroscientist Donald O. Hebb (1904-1985) returned to his native Canada to a post at the Montreal Neurological Institute. In his two years there, Hebb became most interested in cognitive impairments associated with specific brain lesions. Working with Nelson W. Morton (1910-1976) of the psychology department at McGill University, Hebb developed this nonverbal Picture Anomaly Test as well as the verbal Adult Comprehension Test.
label: Description
content: Hebb left Montreal for Queen’s University in 1939, although his interest in neuropsychology continued. Hebb and Morton published an account of these tests in 1943. Hebb would return to Montreal to teach at McGill in 1947, continuing his study of brain lesions.
label: Description
content: The materials included here are:
label: Description
content: .01 – A pamphlet with a turquoise cover entitled: THE McGILL (/) PICTURE ANOMALY (/) SERIES (/) M and N. The document contains a set of numbered drawings by Elizabeth Peck, Betty Pamphilon, and Dorothy Marcuse. There are twelve used as examples for explaining the test, which are numbered from 1 to 12. In addition, there are thirty-four pictures in the M series numbered from M1 to M34 and thirty-four in the N series, numbered from N1 to N34. Each picture includes an anomaly – a cigar smoked by a society woman, a hot water bag on a beach, socks on someone diving off a diving board into water. Subjects were to use a pointer to indicate the anomaly – verbal comments didn’t count.
label: Description
content: .02 – This pamphlet with a turquoise cover is entitled: DIRECTIONS (/) for the use of the (/) McGILL PICTURE ANOMALY (/) Series M and N. This includes a loose typed sheet that describes the tests generally and indicates that a limited number of copies would be available at no cost from D.O. Hebb of Queens University (recall that Hebb went there in 1939). A publication describing the tests is to be published (this happened in 1943). Hence the rough date 1939-1942.
label: Description
content: .03 – This notebook of lined paper has a black cover. It includes cutout pictures from the McGill Anomaly test with labels written in ink on sheets of the notebook. The first sheets show examples A, B, C-F, G-J, K, and L. Two of these are different from the examples of .01 and the order is rather different. The next sheets show a Series K. Sheets that hold the pictures are labeled K 1 to K36. All but two of the images are also in the M series of .01. The notebook also has spaces for a series L, with sheets labeled L1 through L36, but there are no pictures.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Richard E. Brown and Peter M. Milner, “The Legacy of Donald O. Hebb: More than the Hebb Synapse,” <I>Nature Reviews: Neuroscience</>, December 2003, vol. 4, pp. 1013-1019. – this is at http://www.afhalifax.ca/magazine/wp-content/sciences/perceptron/The%20legacy%20of%20Hebb.pdf, accessed February 2, 2020.
label: Description
content: Hebb, Donald O.; Morton, N.W. "The McGill Adult Comprehension Examination: "Verbal Situation" and "Picture Anomaly" Series," <I>Journal of Educational Psychology</I>, January,1943, vol. 34 #1, pp. 16-25.
label: Description
content: Mary J. Wright and ‎Charles Roger Myers, <I>History of Academic Psychology in Canada</I>, Cambridge: C.J. Hogrefe, 1982, p. 50. This gives Morton’s full name and indicate that in 1933 he became the first student granted a PhD. in psychology by McGill University.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Canada
topic: label: Subject
content: Psychology
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Psychological Tests
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of David Shakow
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.316372.06
label: catalog number
content: 316372.06
label: accession number
content: 316372
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Psychological Test
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 cm x 23.5 cm x 18 cm; 13/32 in x 9 1/4 in x 7 3/32 in