Higher-stratum ability structures on a basis of twenty primary abilities.

Previous work has suggested that the well-known primary mental abilities (e.g., verbal ability and spatial ability) exhibit relationships among themselves that can be understood in terms of higher-stratum or more general ability constructs. In the present study, 280 11th–12th graders were measured on 20 primary abilities using the newly standardized Comprehensive Ability Battery. A factor analysis produced 6 oblique 2nd-stratum factors. Four of these were identified as the capacities in R. B. Cattell's triadic theory of ability structure; Fluid Intelligence, Crystallized Intelligence, Visualization Capacity, and General Retrieval Capacity. The correlations among the 6 factors yielded 3 oblique 3rd-stratum factors. Results at both strata permit integration with previous research and have implications for a hierarchial conceptualization of human abilities. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of IQ and specific cognitive abilities at 11 years from infancy measures.

Relations between infant information processing and specific cognitive outcomes at 11 years were examined in a sample of preterms and full-terms followed longitudinally (N?=?90). Infancy measures, obtained at 7-months and 1-year, included visual and tactual recognition memory, crossmodal transfer, object permanence, and visual attention; eleven-year measures included perceptual speed, memory, spatial ability, verbal ability, and IQ. Two of the infancy measures (7-month visual recognition memory and 1-year cross-modal transfer) predicted 11-year IQ. Most of the infancy measures were related to perceptual speed, even with IQ controlled, and were selectively related to other 11-year abilities, independent of both speed and IQ. These findings reinforce the notion of cognitive continuity from infancy. Specifically they suggest that the infancy measures share a common core (perceptual speed) but that some of the measures may also tap other conceptually distinct abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lateral preference patterns as a discriminator of learning difficulties.

In Study 1, the lateral preference patterns for 246 normal and 108 learning-disabled (LD) children (8.3–12.7 yrs) were compared using factors of the Dean Laterality Preference Schedule. Results indicate that although Ss did not differ in their patterns for peripheral activities across factors, LD Ss were significantly more bilateral on factors involving visually guided fine motor activity, listening, and fine motor foot preference. Further analysis showed that one significant discriminant function correctly predicted the group placement of some 71% of the Ss. Findings are interpreted as supporting a hypothesis of less coherent lateralized cerebral systems for many LD children. Study 2 examined the verbal—spatial abilities of 78 LD 5th graders classified as normal or mixed in their preference patterns using the discriminant function derived in Study 1. Results indicate that whereas Ss of mixed dominance for peripheral activities were deficient in spatial abilities, they were verbally more adept than normally lateralized LD Ss. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between aptitudes and vocabulary learning at different stages of practice.

Attempted to replicate a study by D. M. Roberts, F. J. King, and R. P. Kropp (see pa, vol. 45:7370) which, using a learning-how-to-learn methodology, explored relationships between abilities and vocabulary learning at different stages of practice, utilizing 2 instructional methods. 131 10th graders were given a battery of 9 tests (defined either by J. P. Guilford's structure-of-intellect model or the kit of reference tests for cognitive factors) followed by daily vocabulary practice for 3 wk. Achievement and time criteria were used as dependent variables. Results show increasing achievement scores and decreasing times to work through the learning materials across blocks of practice for both instructional methods. Cognitive test correlations decreased across practice while perceptual speed test correlations with criterion performance were low and showed little change. In general, the current data is in agreement with the previous results and offers little support for aptitude * treatment interaction theory. (french summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age changes in processing speed as a leading indicator of cognitive aging.

Bivariate dual change score models were applied to longitudinal data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging to compare the dynamic predictions of 2-component theories of intelligence and the processing speed theory of cognitive aging. Data from up to 5 measurement occasions covering a 16-year period were available from 806 participants ranging in age from 50 to 88 years at the first measurement wave. Factors were generated to tap 4 general cognitive domains: verbal ability, spatial ability, memory, and processing speed. Model fitting indicated no dynamic relationship between verbal and spatial factors, providing no support for the hypothesis that age changes in fluid abilities drive age changes in crystallized abilities. The results suggest that, as predicted by the processing speed theory of cognitive aging, processing speed is a leading indicator of age changes in memory and spatial ability, but not verbal ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student differences in self-regulated learning: Relating grade, sex, and giftedness to self-efficacy and strategy use.

Forty-five boys and 45 girls of the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades from a school for the academically gifted and an identical number from regular schools were asked to describe their use of 14 self-regulated learning strategies and to estimate their verbal and mathematical efficacy. The groups of students from both schools included Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Students came from middle-class homes. Gifted students displayed significantly higher verbal efficacy, mathematical efficacy, and strategy use than regular students. In general, 11th-grade students surpassed 8th graders, who in turn surpassed 5th graders on the three measures of self-regulated learning. Students' perceptions of both verbal and mathematical efficacy were related to their use of self-regulated strategies. Evidence of relations between students' strategic efforts to learn and perceptions of academic self-efficacy is concordant with a triadic view of self-regulatory learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental analyses of two formal operational structures: Combinatorial thinking and conditional reasoning.

Investigated developmental patterns for combinatorial thinking and conditional reasoning abilities and explored the possibility of an interrelationship between these formal operational structures in preadolescents and adolescents. 10 males and 10 females (IQ > 110) at each of the 5th-, 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade levels were given (a) 2 verbal and 1 quantitative combinatorial thinking tasks and (b) a 30-item conditional reasoning test (2-wk intertest interval). Analysis of variance for the verbal combinatorial thinking revealed that 7th and 8th graders scored significantly higher than 5th graders, and that male 6th graders scored higher than female 6th graders while female 7th graders scored higher than male 7th graders. Analysis of quantitative thinking scores also revealed a significant (positive) effect for grade level but no sex * grade level interactions. Conditional reasoning scores for 8th graders were also significantly higher than Ss' scores at any other grade level. These overall findings support Piaget's contention that formal operational structures emerge during early adolescence; however, the nonsignificant correlations between Ss' scores on the 2 types of tasks fail to confirm his contention of an integration of formal operational competencies during this period. Methodological problems with the Piagetian clinical approach are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial order ability in good and poor readers.

Tested a poor reading group (16 4th graders, 2 yr. behind their appropriate reading level) and a good reading group (16 4th graders with average reading scores between the 33rd and 70th percentiles) on sequencing and nonsequencing tests in the auditory, visual, and tactual modes. No differences were found between the performance of good and poor reader groups on the ability to sequence. Results are discussed in terms of perceptual vs. linguistic sequencing abilities. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crystallized verbal skills in schizophrenia: Relationship to neurocognition, symptoms, and functional status.

Objective: To study the relationship of superior (i.e., ≥ 90th percentile), average (11th?89th percentile) or extremely low (i.e., ≤ 10th percentile) crystallized verbal skills to neurocognitive profiles, symptoms and everyday life function in schizophrenia. Method: Crystallized verbal skill was derived from Vocabulary subtest scores from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Out of a sample of 165 stable outpatients with schizophrenia we identified 25 participants with superior crystallized verbal skill, 104 participants with average verbal skill, and 36 participants with extremely low crystallized verbal skill. Each participant was administered measures of attention, working memory, verbal learning and memory, problem-solving and processing speed, as well as symptom and performance-based adaptive life skill assessments. Results: The magnitude of neuropsychological impairment across the three groups was different, after adjusting for group differences in education and duration of illness. Working memory, and verbal learning and memory skills were different across all three groups, while processing speed differentiated the extremely low verbal skill group from the other two groups and problem-solving differentiated the very low verbal skill group from the superior verbal skill group. There were no group differences in sustained attention. Capacity measures of everyday life skills were different across each of the three groups. Conclusion: Crystallized verbal skill in schizophrenia is related to the magnitude of impairment in neurocognitive function and performance-based skills in everyday life function. Patterns of neuropsychological impairment were similar across different levels of crystallized verbal skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of the perception of occupational prestige.

Administered the North-Hatt Occupational Prestige Scale and the Vocational Development Inventory Attitude Scale to 149 male and 164 female 9th-12th graders. Background data (e.g., IQ, socioeconomic status, and reading ability) were also obtained. Correlates of the perception of occupational prestige were vocational maturity, educational level associated with father's occupation, educational level required for the occupation chosen by the student, IQ, verbal and nonverbal abilities, and reading and mathematics achievement. No sex differences were found, nor was perception of prestige associated with grade or age. It is suggested, therefore, that the perception-of-occupational-prestige hierarchy is established earlier in childhood, at least by 9th grade or 13 yrs of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age difference patterns of psychometric intelligence in adulthood: Generalizability within and across ability domains.

Cross-sectional data from the 5th wave (1984) of the Seattle Longitudinal Study are reported with regard to the generalizability of age differences in psychometric intelligence within and across ability domains. Ss were 1,628 community-dwelling individuals drawn from a Pacific Northwest HMO. Age difference patterns of 9 groups with mean ages from 29 to 88 yrs are examined for the ability domains of verbal ability, spatial orientation, inductive reasoning, numeric ability, verbal memory, and perceptual speed. Each ability is marked by 3 or 4 observed variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of abilities on performance during practice: Effects of massed and distributed practice.

Prior research indicates that the influence of abilities on performance may change as a function of practice. The present research examined how learning styles influence the relationship between abilities and task performance. The styles examined were massed vs distributed practice. 209 Ss were asked to complete measures of spatial visualization and perceptual speed. They then practiced a complex skill acquisition task for 4 hrs under conditions that allowed them to pace their rate of practice. Analysis of several dependent measures revealed that perceptual speed contributed to task performance for 33 Ss who massed their practice, whereas spatial visualization contributed to performance for 61 Ss who distributed their practice. The implications of these findings for understanding the role of abilities in skill acquisition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal encoding effects on the visual short-term memory of learning disabled and normal readers.

Investigated the hypothesis that reading difficulties of learning disabled children are attributable to deficiencies in verbal encoding. Adopting a probe-type serial memory task, 60 normal and learning disabled readers matched on CA (9 yrs old), IQ, and sex were compared on recall performance after pretraining of named and unnamed stimulus conditions. The named condition for normal readers was superior in terms of recall performance. Consistent with the findings of F. Vellutino et al (1972, 1973, 1975), no difference was found in recall of nonverbal stimuli between normal and learning disabled readers. These data suggest that primary reading deficits in learning disabled children are related to verbal encoding deficiencies (visual–verbal integration) and not to deficiencies of visual memory, as suggested by the perceptual deficit hypothesis. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of verbal fluency abilities and strategies in elementary-school-age children.

This study of two experiments designed to examine children's abilities and strategies for completing tests of verbal fluency. In Experiment 1, 64 third graders and 71 sixth graders completed four fluency tasks constructed for the study as well as several tests of other verbal abilities. Subjects received two sets of scores for the fluency tasks: a fluency score and scores for strategies expected to distinguish more verbally fluent children from less fluent children. The results demonstrated that the two sets of scores were positively correlated. In Experiment 2, 40 third graders and 38 sixth graders completed expanded versions of two of the fluency tasks used in Experiment 1. The results revealed grade and gender differences in strategy use as well as in level of task performance. In addition, the results indicated that the children's scores for one of the two strategies were strong predictors of their performance on the verbal fluency tasks. The effects of strategy selection and implementation, grade, and gender (as well as their combined influence on children's verbal fluency skills) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure of abilities in math-precocious young children: Gender similarities and differences.

For this study of the organization of cognitive abilities and gender differences in young children advanced in mathematical reasoning, parents identified 778 preschoolers and kindergartners. After screening with 2 arithmetic subtests of standard intelligence tests, 310 high scorers (55% boys) were given 15 additional measures. Mean performance of these high scorers on all standardized measures was 1 to 2 standard deviations above the mean of the norming samples. Boys scored higher on 8 of 11 quantitative measures, 0 of 3 verbal measures, and l of 3 spatial measures, including quantitative and spatial working memory span. Three factors (quantitative, verbal, and spatial) were modeled using confirmatory factor analysis; patterns of relationships were similar for older and younger groups and for girls and boys. Spatial and quantitative factors were highly correlated; the verbal factor correlated weakly with the others but showed a stronger relationship with the spatial factor for boys than girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's understanding of equality--inequality relationships for liquid quantities: the role of minimal-difference concept examples

When one of two same-amount liquid quantities was actually, or proposed to be, altered by a very tiny (smidgen) amount, kindergartners and 2nd graders failed to recognize the resulting inequality, whereas 3rd and 4th graders were increasingly successful. Alterations larger than a smidgen, but still small, improved the judgments of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders but left kindergartners still thinking that equality was unchanged. Alterations in larger amounts that provided noticeable perceptual discrepancies led to nearly perfect inequality judgement across all grade levels. A rigorous evaluation of children's understanding of equality-to-inequality changes must include minimal-amount differences in a quantity along with the solicitation of verbal reports.     

Individual differences in working memory within a nomological network of cognitive and perceptual speed abilities.

It has become fashionable to equate constructs of working memory (WM) and general intelligence (g). Few investigations have provided direct evidence that WM and g measures yield similar ordering of individuals. Correlational investigations have yielded mixed results. The authors assess the construct space for WM and g and demonstrate that WM shares substantial variance with perceptual speed (PS) constructs. Thirty-six ability tests representing verbal, numerical, spatial, and PS abilities; the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices; and 7 WM tests were administered to 135 adults. A nomological representation for WM is provided through a series of cognitive and PS ability models. Construct overlap between PS and WM is further investigated with attention to complexity, processing differences, and practice effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quantitative Genetic Analysis of Latent Growth Curve Models of Cognitive Abilities in Adulthood.

Though many cognitive abilities exhibit marked decline over the adult years, individual differences in rates of change have been observed. In the current study, biometrical latent growth models were used to examine sources of variability for ability level (intercept) and change (linear and quadratic effects) for verbal, fluid, memory, and perceptual speed abilities in the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Genetic influences were more important for ability level at age 65 and quadratic change than for linear slope at age 65. Expected variance components indicated decreasing genetic and increasing nonshared environmental variation over age. Exceptions included one verbal and two memory measures that showed increasing genetic and nonshared environmental variance. The present findings provide support for theories of the increasing influence of the environment with age on cognitive abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between selected cognitive abilities and learning: A second look.

Examined the relationship between learning strategies and cognitive abilities in 3 experiments using a total of 420 3rd-12th graders from rural school as Ss. Ability tests given to Ss included Raven's Progressive Matrices and a digit span test. Based on the argument that such relationships ought to follow predictable and differentiated patterns, different strategy manipulations were used in an attempt to moderate the relationship between reasoning and memory abilities and free recall and paired associate learning. Results suggest that meaningful differential interrelations can be demonstrated as long as the processes and strategies forming the link between learning and ability test performance are both potent and well understood. Implications for future research into the cross-linkages between intelligence and learning tasks are discussed. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broad ability factors in 12- to 13-year-old children, the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence, and the differentiation hypothesis.

Carried out a simple-structure factor analysis of test data from a sample of 149 6th graders in Norway. Broad factors were interpreted to represent Visualization, Speediness, and Fluency as well as Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence. The results are discussed in relation to R. B. Cattell"s (1971) and J. L. Horn"s (1968) theories of intelligence. Relating the findings to an earlier study of Norwegian 10–11 yr old 4th graders, some of the complexities and inconsistencies that characterize the evidence for and against the differentiation hypothesis are discussed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)