Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests
This weeks "recent literature of interest" is now available. Click here for download.
This study evaluates the use of the original and updated norms of the Woodcock Johnson-III in making educational decisions. The method of collection involved placing the raw score obtained from the updated norms into the original Compuscore program to see if there is a difference between the two scoring systems. The scores were then placed in a figure to see how much the scores varied from each other. Results of the study showed that there was a 1 to 3 point difference between specific skill areas, with some skill areas obtaining a 5 to 6 point difference. Suggestions are made for Practitioners when using the updated norms.
http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2010/04/26/new-resource-brain-fitness-for-all/
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In higher order factor models, general intelligence (g) is often found to correlate perfectly with lower-order common factors, suggesting that g and some well-defined cognitive ability, such as working memory, may be identical. However, the results of studies that addressed the equivalence of g and lower-order factors are inconsistent. We suggest that this inconsistency may partly be attributable to the lack of statistical power to detect the distinctiveness of the two factors. The present study therefore investigated the power to reject the hypothesis that g and a lower-order factor are perfectly correlated using artificial datasets, based on realistic parameter values and on the results of selected publications. The results of the power analyses indicated that power was substantially influenced by the effect size and the number and the reliability of the indicators. The examination of published studies revealed that most case studies that reported a perfect correlation between g and a lower-order factor were underpowered, with power coefficients rarely exceeding 0.30. We conclude the paper by emphasizing the importance of considering power in the context of identifying g with lower-order factors.
What determines success and failure in dual-task situations? Many theories propose that the extent to which two activities can be performed concurrently depends on the nature of the information involved in the activities. In particular, verbal and visuospatial activities are thought to be fueled by distinct resources, so that interference occurs between two verbal activities or two visuospatial activities, but little or no interference occurs between verbal and visuospatial activities. The current study examined trade-offs in four dual-task situations in which participants maintained verbal or visuospatial information while concurrently processing either verbal or visuospatial information. We manipulated the cognitive load of concurrent processing and assessed recall performance in each condition. Results revealed that both verbal and visuospatial recall performance decreased as a direct function of increasing cognitive load, regardless of the nature of the information concurrently processed. The observed trade-offs suggest strongly that verbal and visuospatial activities compete for a common domain-general pool of resources.
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition (WISC–IV; D. Wechsler, 2003a) is often utilized to assess children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), although little information is available regarding its psychometric properties in these children. The current study examined WISC–IV performance in a sample of 61 children with TBI. As compared to the standardization sample, results indicated that the TBI group exhibited relative deficits on all subtest and index scores, with the greatest deficits on the Processing Speed Index (PSI) and Coding subtest scores. However, the Perceptual Reasoning Index score was not uniquely sensitive to brain injury, and the Cognitive Processing Index score was less sensitive to TBI than the PSI score. Also, the PSI did not uniquely predict learning and memory abilities, as had been reported in previous studies of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition (WISC–III; D. Wechsler, 1991). The present findings indicate substantive differences between the WISC–III and WISC–IV profiles of children with TBI.
Published empirical evidence for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WAIS–IV) does not address some essential questions pertaining to the applied practice of intellectual assessment. In this study, the structure and cross-age invariance of the latest WAIS–IV revision were examined to (a) elucidate the nature of the constructs measured and (b) determine whether the same constructs are measured across ages. Results suggest that a Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC)–inspired structure provides a better description of test performance than the published scoring structure does. Broad CHC abilities measured by the WAIS–IV include crystallized ability (Gc), fluid reasoning (Gf), visual processing (Gv), short-term memory (Gsm), and processing speed (Gs), although some of these abilities are measured more comprehensively than are others. Additionally, the WAIS–IV provides a measure of quantitative reasoning (QR). Results also suggest a lack of cross-age invariance resulting from age-related differences in factor loadings. Formulas for calculating CHC indexes and suggestions for interpretation are provided.
If a thing exists, it can be measured. Measurement is a central component of assessment if we believe that fear, anxiety, intelligence, self-esteem, attention, and similar latent variables exist and are useful to us in developing an understanding of the human condition and leading us to ways to improve it. Much of what is published in Psychological Assessment deals with the development and the application of measurement devices of various sorts with the end goal of applications in assessment practice. What is submitted but not published largely deals with the same topics. As the new Editor writing the inaugural editorial, I am focusing on this topic for two major reasons. The first is that the most frequent reason why manuscripts are rejected in the peer-review process for Psychological Assessment and other high-quality journals devoted to clinical or neuropsychological assessment is inadequate attention to sound and high-quality measurement practices. The second reason is my surmise that measurement as a science is no longer taught with the rigor that characterized the earlier years of professional psychology. One of the tasks of Psychological Assessment is to promote a strong science of clinical assessment as practiced throughout professional psychology. To that end, I have attempted to pull together an eclectic group of Associate Editors and Consulting Editors. Our hope is to attract more and better manuscripts that deal with issues focusing on all aspects of clinical assessment
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/uouh-sow042210.php
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The transient enhancement of performance on spatial tasks in standardized tests after exposure to the first movement “allegro con spirito” of the Mozart sonata for two pianos in D major (KV 448) is referred to as the Mozart effect since its first observation by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993). These findings turned out to be amazingly hard to replicate, thus leading to an abundance of conflicting results. Sixteen years after initial publication we conduct the so far largest, most comprehensive, and up-to-date meta-analysis (nearly 40 studies, over 3000 subjects), including a diversity of unpublished research papers to finally clarify the scientific record about whether or not a specific Mozart effect exists. We could show that the overall estimated effect is small in size (d = 0.37, 95% CI [0.23, 0.52]) for samples exposed to the Mozart sonata KV 448 and samples that had been exposed to a non-musical stimulus or no stimulus at all preceding spatial task performance. Additionally, calculation of effect sizes for samples exposed to any other musical stimulus and samples exposed to a non-musical stimulus or no stimulus at all yielded effects similar in strength (d = 0.38, 95% CI [0.13, 0.63]), whereas there was a negligible effect between the two music conditions (d = 0.15, 95% CI [0.02, 0.28]). Furthermore, formal tests yielded evidence for confounding publication bias, requiring downward correction of effects. The central finding of the present paper however, is certainly the noticeably higher overall effect in studies performed by Rauscher and colleagues than in studies performed by other researchers, indicating systematically moderating effects of lab affiliation. On the whole, there is little evidence left for a specific, performance-enhancing Mozart effect.
In this Editorial we correct the false claim that g loadings and inbreeding depression scores correlate with the secular gains in IQ. This claim has been used to render the logic of heritable g a “red herring” and an “absurdity” as an explanation of Black–White differences because secular gains are environmental in origin. In point of fact, while g loadings and inbreeding depression scores on the 11 subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children correlate significantly positively with Black–White differences (0.61 and 0.48, P < 0.001), they correlate significantly negatively (or not at all) with the secular gains (mean r = -0.33, P < 0.001; and 0.13, ns, respectively). Moreover, heritabilities calculated from twins also correlate with the g loadings (r = 0.99, P < 0.001 for the estimated true correlation), providing biological evidence for a true genetic g, as opposed to a mere statistical g. While the secular gains are on g-loaded tests (such as the Wechsler), they are negatively correlated with the most g-loaded components of those tests. Also, the tests lose their g loadedness over time with training, retesting, and familiarity. In an analysis of mathematics and reading scores from tests such as the NAEP and Coleman Report over the last 54 years, we show that there has been no narrowing of the gap in either IQ scores or in educational achievement. From 1954 to 2008, Black 17-year-olds have consistently scored at about the level of White 14-year-olds, yielding IQ equivalents of 85 for 1954, 82 for 1965, 70 for 1975, and 81 for 2008. We conclude that predictions about the Black–White IQ gap narrowing as a result of the secular rise are unsupported. The (mostly heritable) cause of the one is not the (mostly environmental) cause of the other. The Flynn Effect (the secular rise in IQ) is not a Jensen Effect (because it does not occur on g).
NeuropathLrng: How poverty can affect children's developing brains:
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Learn Rasch/IRT online
"Practical Rasch Measurement - Core Topics", the next Winsteps introductory month-long online study Course starts Friday, April 30, 2010:
www.winsteps.com/courses.htm - the course is administered by Statistics.com
The current Winsteps version is 3.69.1.14 - see www.winsteps.com/wingood.htm for recent changes
Mike Linacre
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In spite of the long-standing tradition of including measures of visual-motor integration in psychological evaluations, visual-motor abilities have not been included in the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities or its complementary cross-battery approach to assessment. The purpose of this research was to identify the shared constructs of a popular test of visual-motor integration and a test of intellectual functioning, and to investigate how a test of visual-motor integration would be classified within the CHC model. A large normative sample of 3,015 participants that ranged in age from 5 to 97 years completed the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (Bender-Gestalt II; Brannigan & Decker, 2003) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5; Roid, 2003). Correlational analyses indicated positive moderate correlations across all age ranges between the Bender-Gestalt II Copy measure and the SB5 Nonverbal Visual-Spatial Processing subscale and between the Bender-Gestalt II Recall measure and the SB5 Nonverbal Visual-Spatial Processing and Nonverbal Working Memory subscales. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a three-factor model for four age groupings and four-factor model for one age grouping, suggesting factors which represent crystallized ability, fluid reasoning, and visual-motor ability. The results of this study suggest that the Bender-Gestalt II measures abilities that are not included in the SB5. Therefore, the Bender-Gestalt II would complement an intelligence test such as the SB5 in order to form a CHC Visual Processing ( Gv ) broad ability factor. These findings also address the need for further research to validate the constructs measured by newer versions of widely-used tests of cognitive ability.
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This weeks "recent literature of interest" is now available. Click here for download.
Ball, S. L., Holland, A. J., Watson, P. C., & Huppert, F. A. (2010). Theoretical exploration of the neural bases of behavioural disinhibition, apathy and executive dysfunction in preclinical Alzheimer's disease in people with Down's syndrome: potential involvement of multiple frontal-subcortical neuronal circuits. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 320-336.
Carretti, B., Belacchi, C., & Cornoldi, C. (2010). Difficulties in working memory updating in individuals with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 337-345.
Henry, L., Cornoldi, C., & Mahler, C. (2010). Special issues on 'working memory and executive functioning in individuals with intellectual disabilities'. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 293-294.
Henry, L., & Winfield, J. (2010). Working memory and educational achievement in children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 354-365.
Lanfranchi, S., Jerman, O., DalPont, E., Alberti, A., & Vianello, R. (2010). Executive function in adolescents with Down Syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 308-319.
Mosse, E. K., & Jarrold, C. (2010). Searching for the Hebb effect in Down syndrome: evidence for a dissociation between verbal short-term memory and domain-general learning of serial order. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 295-307.
Schuchardt, K., Gebhardt, M., & Maehler, C. (2010). Working memory functions in children with different degrees of intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 346-353.
Willner, P., Bailey, R., Parry, R., & Dymond, S. (2010). Evaluation of executive functioning in people with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 366-379.
Willner, P., Bailey, R., Parry, R., & Dymond, S. (2010). Evaluation of the ability of people with intellectual disabilities to 'weigh up' information in two tests of financial reasoning. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 380-391.
Subject: Free Article from 'Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition'
Gain Eleven IQ Points in Ten Minutes
Read for free Thinking Aloud Improves Raven's Matrices Performance in Older Adults by Marc C. Fox and Neil Charness, a recent article from Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition.
The article examines the impact of age on reactivity to concurrent think-aloud verbal reports. Results revealed that thinking aloud improves older adult performance on Raven's Matrices tests, corresponding to a fluid intelligence increase of nearly one standard deviation.
Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition
Impact Factor 2008: 1.143 (©2009 Thomson Reuters, 2008 Journal Citation Reports®)
Edited by Linas A. Bieliauskas (University of Michigan Health System, USA) and Martin Sliwinski (Penn State University, USA), this journal publishes research on both the normal and dysfunctional aspects of cognitive development in adulthood and aging, and promotes the integration of theories, methods, and research findings between the fields of cognitive gerontology and neuropsychology.
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The study investigated whether theoretical causative relations among declining cognitive abilities during adulthood and old age conform to a literal reversal of improving cognitive development during childhood. Children aged 8–14 years (n = 240) and adults aged 18–87 (n = 238) completed the same battery of psychometric tests, which defined latent traits for processing speed, working memory, and reasoning ability. Speeded performance improved during childhood and slowed across the adult range. Childhood performance was well described by a developmental cascade, whereby increasing chronological age is accompanied by faster processing speed, which influences improved working memory, which in turn influences improving reasoning ability. However, although adult performance resembled a cascade with diminishing reasoning ability mediated by processing speed and working memory, this was not a mirror image of the cascade for children. The main difference with adults was a direct causal path between age and working memory. Post hoc analysis located this among adults aged 55 years and over. This suggests that, whereas childhood cognitive development is substantially mediated by processing speed, declining reasoning ability in old age is influenced by slower processing speed but also by age-related change(s) influencing working memory that are independent from processing speed.
Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Method
2.1. Participants
2.2. Materials
2.2.1. Processing speed (PS)
2.2.2. Digit Symbol
2.2.3. Visual Matching
2.2.4. Inspection time (IT, Nettelbeck (2001))
2.2.5. Simple reaction time (RT)
2.2.6. Odd man out – decision time (DT, Frearson & Eysenck (1986))
2.2.7. Working memory (WM)
2.2.8. Picture Swaps (Stankov (2000))
2.2.9. Picture Recognition (modelled on the test from WJ – R)
2.2.10. Digit Span (modelled on the test from WAIS-IV)
2.2.11. Reasoning ability (RA)
2.3. Procedure
2.4. Statistical analyses
3. Results
4. Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
The ability to find one's way in our complex environments represents one of the most fundamental cognitive functions. Although involving basic perceptual and memory related processes, spatial navigation is particularly complex because it is a multisensory process in which information needs to be integrated and manipulated over time and space. Not surprisingly, humans differ widely in this ability, and recent animal and human work has begun to unveil the underlying mechanisms. Here, we consider three interdependent domains that have been related to navigational abilities: cognitive and perceptual factors, neural information processing and variability in brain microstructure. Together, the findings converge into an emerging model of how different factors interact to produce individual patterns of navigational performance.
Article Outline
Spatial navigation – a complex behavior with large individual differences
Variability in perceptual and cognitive processing
Variability in structure and function of critical brain circuits
Concluding remarks
References
Research studies have implicated executive functions in reading difficulties (RD). But while some studies have found children with RD to be impaired on tasks of executive function other studies report unimpaired performance. A meta-analysis was carried out to determine whether these discrepant findings can be accounted for by differences in the tasks of executive function that are utilized. A total of 48 studies comparing the performance on tasks of executive function of children with RD with their typically developing peers were included in the meta-analysis, yielding 180 effect sizes. An overall effect size of 0.57 (SE .03) was obtained, indicating that children with RD have impairments on tasks of executive function. However, effect sizes varied considerably suggesting that the impairment is not uniform. Moderator analysis revealed that task modality and IQ-achievement discrepancy definitions of RD influenced the magnitude of effect; however, the age and gender of participants and the nature of the RD did not have an influence. While the children's RD were associated with executive function impairments, variation in effect size is a product of the assessment task employed, underlying task demands, and definitional criteria.
The present longitudinal study sought to investigate the impact of poor phonology on children's mathematical status. From a screening sample of 256 five-year-olds, 82 children were identified as either typically achieving (TA; N=31), having comorbid poor phonology and mathematical difficulties (PDMD; N=31), or having only poor phonology (phonological difficulty, PD; N=20). Children were assessed on eight components of informal and formal mathematics achievement at ages 5-7 years. PD children were found to have significant impairments in some, mainly formal, components of mathematics by age 7 compared to TA children. Analysis also revealed that, by age 7, approximately half of the PD children met the criteria for PDMD, while the remainder exhibited less severe deficits in some components of formal mathematics. Children's mathematical performance at age 5, however, did not predict which PD children were more likely to become PDMD at age 7, nor did they differ in terms of phonological awareness at age 5. However, those PD children who later became PDMD had lower scores on verbal and non-verbal tests of general ability.
The diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI) requires non-verbal ability to be in the normal range, but little is known regarding the extent to which general reasoning skills are preserved during development. A total of 122 children were tested; 40 SLI, 42 age-matched controls, and 40 younger language-matched controls. Deductive reasoning tasks were given in both verbal and pictorial presentation types, namely the relational inference task and the reduced array selection task (RAST). Pictorial presentation facilitated all groups for all tasks equally. For the relational inference task, SLI performance was below both age and language matches. For the RAST, contextual information facilitated all groups equally. SLI performance was intermediate between age and language matches. It is concluded that the non-verbal versus verbal distinction is a complex one and that non-verbal reasoning can draw upon linguistic processes. It is also suggested that SLI reasoning depends upon precise task demands, here the need to sequence information in working memory, and the need for explicit reasoning with conditional rules. Reasoning processes may not be equivalent to normally developing children, even when tasks appear non-verbal.
Over the last 30 years or so, various findings have been reported which suggest that the perception of spoken words may involve the automatic coactivation of orthographic properties. Here we assessed this possibility in auditory rhyme judgement tasks and replicated a classic finding reported by Seidenberg and Tanenhaus (1979), showing that orthographic similarity between stimuli facilitated responses on rhyming pairs, but had the opposite effect on nonrhyming pairs. However, Experiments 2 and 3 showed that manipulating the nature of the nonrhymes, or adding a large proportion of filler items, eliminated the effects of orthographic match or mismatch. These findings suggest the involvement of strategic factors in the emergence of orthographic effects in rhyme judgement tasks.
Keywords: Speech perception; Orthographic effects; Rhyme monitoring
Working memory storage capacity is important because cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed. The ability to repeat information depends on task demands but can be distinguished from a more constant, underlying mechanism: a central memory store limited to 3 to 5 meaningful items for young adults. I discuss why this central limit is important, how it can be observed, how it differs among individuals, and why it may exist.
The empirical literature on auditory imagery is reviewed. Data on (a) imagery for auditory features (pitch, timbre, loudness), (b) imagery for complex nonverbal auditory stimuli (musical contour, melody, harmony, tempo, notational audiation, environmental sounds), (c) imagery for verbal stimuli (speech, text, in dreams, interior monologue), (d) auditory imagery’s relationship to perception and memory (detection, encoding, recall, mnemonic properties, phonological loop), and (e) individual differences in auditory imagery (in vividness, musical ability and experience, synesthesia, musical hallucinosis, schizophrenia, amusia) are considered. It is concluded that auditory imagery (a) preserves many structural and temporal properties of auditory stimuli, (b) can facilitate auditory discrimination but interfere with auditory detection, (c) involves many of the same brain areas as auditory perception, (d) is often but not necessarily influenced by subvocalization, (e) involves semantically interpreted information and expectancies, (f) involves depictive components and descriptive components, (g) can function as a mnemonic but is distinct from rehearsal, and (h) is related to musical ability and experience (although the mechanisms of that relationship are not clear
