Planning and organisation is involved in many tasks and these skills are particularly important when tasks are novel and/or complex.
Sometimes neuropsychologists ask subjects to copy detailed and complex figures. In the absence of visual or perceptual problems, how an individual undertakes the task can reveal difficulties with planning and organisation.
View the simulation below showing Ray’s complex shape task.
You will notice that the ‘good’ copy starts with the main elements of the figure and then fine tunes the details. This sort of approach often leads to a well organised cohesive copy.
In contrast Ray’s copy starts with a relatively small section, shows no real logic and is quite piecemeal; as a result it is more difficult to achieve a cohesive integrated whole. This sort of approach often indicates difficulties with planning and organisation.
