Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF, MFFT)

Abstract

The Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF or MFFT), developed by Kagan and colleagues in 1964, is a foundational psychological instrument designed to quantify the bipolar cognitive style known as reflection-impulsivity in children. The test structure includes two initial practice items followed by twelve critical experimental items. In the administration process, the subject is presented with a standard reference picture alongside six highly similar variants. The central task requires the subject to identify the single variant that is an exact match to the standard picture. Crucially, the incorrect figures are constructed to differ from the standard by only one subtle design feature, ensuring high perceptual demands.

Scoring the MFFT relies on three key metrics: the latency (response time) before the first selection, the total number of errors made, and the overall count of items correctly identified on the initial choice, providing a robust measure of information processing style. This methodology allows for the categorization of children based on their speed and accuracy trade-off in visual tasks, placing them on the spectrum of reflection-impulsivity.

Keywords

Cognitive Development, Matching Familiar Figures Test, Test Development, Visual Discrimination, Reflectiveness-Impulsivity, Developmental Measures, Perceptual Measures, Impulsiveness.

Authors

Kagan, Jerome; Rosman, Bernice L.; Day, Deborah; Albert, Joseph; Phillips, William

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Matching Familiar Figures Test is to provide an objective assessment of the individual differences in cognitive tempo, specifically assessing the continuum of reflection-impulsivity in school-age children. This assessment is vital for understanding how children approach tasks requiring careful visual analysis and decision-making under uncertainty.

By measuring both the speed and accuracy of responding, the MFFT allows researchers and clinicians to categorize children into distinct cognitive styles—reflective (slow, accurate) or impulsive (fast, inaccurate)—thereby offering insights into their underlying information processing strategies and potential difficulties in learning environments and problem-solving contexts.

Construct

The core psychological construct measured by the MFFT is Reflection-Impulsivity. This construct refers to a stable cognitive tempo dimension characterizing the speed and efficiency with which individuals process information and respond in situations where response uncertainty is high and multiple alternatives are present.

Individuals classified as reflective tend to spend more time considering response alternatives before committing to an answer, resulting in lower error rates. Conversely, impulsive individuals respond quickly with minimal deliberation, often leading to a higher frequency of errors. The MFFT operationalizes this bipolar trait by capturing the interaction between response latency and error score within a complex visual discrimination task framework.

Validity

The original source publication (Kagan et al., 1964) did not explicitly report specific validity coefficients (such as criterion or construct validity) for the Matching Familiar Figures Test. However, the conceptual validity of the instrument is established through its long-standing use in measuring the cognitive tempo construct across numerous subsequent studies that have correlated MFFT scores with academic performance, problem-solving abilities, and attentional control.

While the initial documentation lacked explicit validity data, the standardized structure—focusing on subtle visual differences and measuring both speed and accuracy—inherently supports its use as a measure of controlled attention and visual analysis, key components of the reflection-impulsivity construct relevant to Cognitive Development.

Reliability

The MFFT demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and moderate temporal stability. The internal reliability was assessed using a large sample, yielding a high split-half reliability coefficient of .94, calculated based on 300 protocols. This high coefficient suggests excellent internal consistency among the twelve experimental test items in measuring the underlying construct.

Furthermore, the test exhibited moderate stability when measured over a 12-month interval, indicating that the cognitive style captured by the MFFT is relatively enduring. The authors noted a trend toward increased stability of the analytic attitude as the children matured, reinforcing the MFFT’s utility in studying the development of cognitive tempo across childhood.

Factor Analysis

The original publication of the MFFT did not include a formal factor analysis of the scale structure. Subsequent research utilizing the MFFT has primarily focused on the two fundamental dimensions of response latency and error rate, treating them as separate but related indicators of the single bipolar dimension of reflection-impulsivity, rather than analyzing underlying factor structures of the items themselves.

Instrument

Test Type: Test

Format: The subject is presented with a standard picture and six highly similar variants. The task is to select the one variant that is an exact match to the standard picture, requiring fine-grained visual discrimination.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Childhood (birth-12 yrs); School Age (6-12 yrs)

Population Details: The initial standardization sample consisted of children in Grades 1 through 4.

Test Methodology: The test is administered via paper format. It comprises 14 total items (2 practice, 12 experimental). Scoring includes measuring the time taken for the first response and the accuracy of that response. The MFFT is classified under instruments related to Development and Aging and is a key measure in Cognitive Development research.

Keywords

Reflectiveness, Impulsiveness, Test Construction, Matching to Sample, Perceptual Measures, Developmental Measures, Cognitive Development, Visual Discrimination, Reflection-Impulsivity.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: [N/A – Information not provided in source]

Affiliation Email addresses: [N/A – Information not provided in source]

Correspondence Address: [N/A – Information not provided in source]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The MFFT was first published in 1964. The instrument is indicated as non-commercial and requires no fee for use. However, the original test items are not publicly provided and users must contact the authors or publisher for obtaining the full test materials. The original research was published in Psychological Monographs: General and Applied.

Reference’s

• Kagan, J., Rosman, B. L., Day, D., Albert, J., & Phillips, W. (1964). Information processing in the child: Significance of analytic and reflective attitudes. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 78(1), 1–37. The DOI for this seminal work is: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093830

Items of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF, MFFT)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF; Kagan et al., 1964) consists of two practice items and 12 experimental items. In each item, the subject is shown a standard picture and six highly similar variants, asked to select the one variant that looks “just like” the standard. The incorrect figures differ from the standard by only one design feature, which is unique for each incorrect option. The test scores include response time to the first selection, total errors, and the number of test items correct on the first choice. The original test items are not publicly available; users must contact the author or publisher for obtaining the full test materials.