F OR many years, the literature in the field of intelligence testing has been laden with psychometric pattern research. Underlying this approach is the hope that differential patterns of response to intelligence tests will be found, which will aid in the diagnosis of functional and organic mental disturbances.The following paper suggests an approach which places its emphasis upon the relationship between the use of language (as manifested in a vocabulary response) and the underlying cognitive process. Such research, in lieu of psychometric patterns, orients the field of intelligence testing to a frame of reference concerned with seeking differential levels of intellectual functioning as manifested in the development of children's vocabulary definitions, in normal adults and adults suffering from mental disturbances.Wechsler [8] has pointed out that, "in defining a word, a subject gives more than its mere meaning." In many instances, he tells us a good deal about himself, or at least about the quality and character of his thought processes. These facts may not be immediately apparent, but can be frequently brought to light by analyzing the formal and contextual aspects of the subject's response. There is an obvious difference in the reasoning ability between two adults, one of whom defines "donkey" as "an animal," and the other who defines it in such terms as "it has four legs." Wechs-