Print exposure as a predictor of word reading and reading comprehension in disabled and nondisabled readers.

The relation of print exposure, measured by a revised version of A. E. Cunningham and K. E. Stanovich's (1990) Title Recognition Test (TRT), to word reading and reading comprehension was examined in disabled and nondisabled readers, Grades 5–9. In disabled readers, the TRT was a significant predictor of word reading when phonological skill was accounted for but not when orthographic ability was added to the regression equation, suggesting that the TRT overlaps considerably with orthographic skill. The TRT significantly predicted nondisabled readers' word reading after both phonological and orthographic skills were accounted for. The TRT contributed significantly to reading comprehension once variance was partialed from higher order reading processes for disabled readers only. The TRT's power to predict comprehension may be ascribed to the effects of print exposure on automaticity of word recognition, knowledge, or familiarization with text structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge of storybooks as a predictor of young children's vocabulary.

Shared book reading provides a rich source of linguistic stimulation for young children. The authors examined whether variations in knowledge of storybooks (assumed to index factors such as frequency of shared reading) were related to vocabulary scores for 3–6 yr olds. In Exp 1, parents' knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in children's receptive vocabulary scores after controlling for children's analytic intelligence, parents' exposure to adult reading material, and parents' education. In Exp 2, children's knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in their receptive and expressive vocabulary scores after controlling for parents' exposure to print and socioeconomic status level. Children's knowledge of storybooks indexed cognitive factors as well as exposure. The findings obtained in the 2 experiments suggest that storybook experiences during the preschool years may be an important influence on the development of children's language skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing print exposure and orthographic processing skill in children: A quick measure of reading experience.

In a study of 3rd- and 4th-grade children it was established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after the variance due to phonological processing has been partialed out. This independent orthographic variance was related to performance on a new measure of individual differences in exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test, that has a very brief administration time. Additionally, some of the orthographic processing variance linked to word recognition ability was not shared with either phonological processing measures or with print exposure. The results of the study were supportive of the idea that there are individual differences in word recognition ability caused by variation in orthographic processing abilities that are in part determined by print exposure differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge growth and maintenance across the life span: The role of print exposure.

One hundred thirty-three college students (mean age?=?19.1 years) and 49 older individuals (mean age?=?79.9 years) completed 2 general knowledge tasks, a vocabulary task, a working memory task, a syllogistic reasoning task, and several measures of exposure to print. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that when measures of exposure to print were used as control variables, the positive relationships between age and vocabulary, and age and declarative knowledge, were eliminated. Within each of the age groups, exposure to print was a significant predictor of vocabulary and declarative knowledge even after differences in working memory, general ability, and educational level were controlled. These results support the theory of fluid-crystallized intelligence and suggest a more prominent role for exposure to print in theories of individual differences in knowledge acquisition and maintenance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later.

A group of 1st-graders who were administered a battery of reading tasks in a previous study were followed up as 11th graders. Ten years later, they were administered measures of exposure to print, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and general knowledge. First-grade reading ability was a strong predictor of all of the 11th-grade outcomes and remained so even when measures of cognitive ability were partialed out. First-grade reading ability (as well as 3rd- and 5th-grade ability) was reliably linked to exposure to print, as assessed in the 11th grade, even after 11th-grade reading comprehension ability was partialed out, indicating that the rapid acquisition of reading ability might well help develop the lifetime habit of reading, irrespective of the ultimate level of reading comprehension ability that the individual attains. Finally, individual differences in exposure to print were found to predict differences in the growth in reading comprehension ability throughout the elementary grades and thereafter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of print exposure quality and inference construction on syllogistic reasoning.

This study extended the work of S. Siddiqui, R. F. West, and K. E. Stanovich (1998), who studied the link between general print exposure and syllogistic reasoning. It was hypothesized that exposure to certain text structures that contain well-delineated logical forms, such as popularized scientific texts, would be a better predictor of deductive reasoning skill than general print exposure, which is not sensitive to the quality of an individual's reading activity. Furthermore, it was predicted that the ability to generate explanatory bridging inferences while reading would also be predictive of syllogistic reasoning. Undergraduate students (N = 112) were tested for vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, exposure to general print, exposure to popularized scientific literature, and the ability to comprehend texts distinguished by the number of inferences that must be generated to support comprehension. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that a combined measure of exposure to general and scientific literature was a significant predictor of syllogistic reasoning ability. Additionally, the ability to comprehend high-inference-load texts was related to solving syllogisms that were inconsistent with world knowledge, indicating an overlap in deductive reasoning skill and text comprehension processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocabulary acquisition and verbal short-term memory: computational and neural bases

In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that human vocabulary acquisition processes and verbal short-term memory abilities utilize a common cognitive and neural system. We begin by reviewing behavioral evidence for a shared set of processes. Next, we examine what the computational bases of such a shared system might be and how vocabulary acquisition and verbal short-term memory might be related in mechanistic terms. We examine existing computational models of vocabulary acquisition and of verbal short-term memory, concluding that they fail to adequately relate these two domains. We then propose an alternative model which accounts not only for the relationship between word learning and verbal short-term memory, but also for a wide range of phenomena in verbal short-term memory. Furthermore, this new account provides a clear statement of the relationship between the proposed system and mechanisms of language processing more generally. We then consider possible neural substrates for this cognitive system. We begin by reviewing what is known of the neural substrates of speech processing and outline a conceptual framework within which a variety of seemingly contradictory neurophysiological and neuropsychological findings can be accommodated. The linkage of the shared system for vocabulary acquisition and verbal short-term memory to neural areas specifically involved in speech processing lends further support to our functional-level identification of the mechanisms of vocabulary acquisition and verbal short-term memory with those of language processing. The present work thus relates vocabulary acquisition and verbal short-term memory to each other and to speech processing, at a cognitive, computational, and neural level.     

Where does knowledge come from? Specific associations between print exposure and information acquisition.

In a study of 268 college students, measures of exposure to print predicted individual differences in knowledge in a variety of domains even after individual differences on 4 indicators of general ability (high school GPA, Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, Nelson-Denny Reading Test—Comprehension subtest, and a mathematics ability test) had been statistically controlled. Although correlational, results suggest that print exposure is an independent contributor to the acquisition of content knowledge. The data challenge the view that knowledge acquisition is determined only by the efficiency of cognitive components that encode and store information. Instead, the results indicate that differences in exposure to information, particularly written sources of information, is a significant contributor to differences in knowledge across individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing native English vocabulary recognition through Spanish immersion: Cognate transfer from foreign to first language.

Effects of Spanish immersion on children's native English vocabulary were studied. Matched on grade, sex, and verbal scores on a 4th-grade Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT), 30 5th- and 6th-grade immersion students and 30 English monolinguals did 60 consecutive Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) items. They also did a 20-item Spanish–English Cognate Test (SECT), similar to PPVT, on recognizing low-frequency English words with high-frequency Spanish cognates. The CAT and conventionally scored PPVT revealed comparable verbal ability between groups, but on 60 consecutive PPVT items, immersion did better than control (p?=?.002) because of cognates. On SECT, immersion significantly outperformed control (p?     

Prospective span as a cognitive ability.

Hypothesized that prospective span (PS) in TAT stories, as a measure of cognitive capacity of anticipation, should be related to cognitive tasks involving the specific capacity of anticipation but not to more general measures of verbal intelligence. In 51 male undergraduates, PS was related to 2 cognitive tasks requiring anticipation, the Mazes Test and the Seeing Deficiencies Test, but unrelated to the Vocabulary and Information subtests of the WAIS. Contrary to previous studies, PS was negatively related to academic grades. Large differences were obtained between PS scores for the different TAT cards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recoverability of psychological functioning following alcohol abuse: acquisition of meaningful synonyms

Assessed the recovery of alcoholics' ability to learn meaningful verbal items after the cessation of drinking via 3 spaced administrations of the Synonym Learning Test (SLT) during a 1-mo inpatient alcohol treatment program. The SLT procedure also assessed Ss' vocabulary level. Three matched groups of 11 male alcoholics (mean ages 41.55, 45.45, and 43.36 yrs) were tested. The study design separated practice effects from actual recovery via the administration of the 1st testing to each group at a different time delay after drinking ceased—5, 15, and 25 days, respectively. To ascertain baseline SLT performance, a control group of 11 nonalcoholic hospitalized patients (mean age 37.55 yrs) were tested once. Results show that vocabulary knowledge was unimpaired by chronic alcohol abuse, whereas the ability to learn new vocabulary words was impaired immediately after cessation of drinking but recovered to normal levels by 2 wks postdrinking. Length of drinking history did not influence either vocabulary knowledge or new vocabulary learning. The correlation between new vocabulary learning and initial vocabulary suggested that SLT scores must be adjusted for vocabulary in future clinical use of the procedure. Implications for alcohol treatment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocabulary Testing.

The point made by Anastasi (see record 1967-08794-001) is most timely. A distressingly high percentage of psychologists still are at the mass stage, developmentally speaking, in their perception of intelligence tests and intelligence testing. Simple differentiations are woefully infrequent in evidence. Many educators have employed Wechsler Performance scores, in their "predictive" thinking, as though they "said" the same thing as the Verbal scores. Articles tend often to be accepted for publication, and the research on which they were based too often to be directed, reflecting an assumption that a vocabulary test is a vocabulary test is a vocabulary test--where scores on, say, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test are taken, at least implicitly, to reflect the same phenomenon as do scores on the Binet vocabulary test, or on a multiple-choice type of vocabulary test. No apparent awareness is in evidence of a sensitivity to a difference between the identification of pictures and verbal labels, the verbal production of definitions, and/or the recognition of verbal equivalents or similarities. Also, psychologists who have been trained primarily with or on adults, with respect to whom IQs can have certain limited value, tend to think of children in similar terms when in reality even a good IQ has very limited value to the elementary class teacher. This studious impoverishment of test information is further perpetuated by group test publishers who refrain from providing level scores that could be of help to elementary level teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of verbal and nonverbal references to print on preschoolers' visual attention to print during storybook reading.

How much do preschool children look at print within storybooks when adults read to them? This study sought to answer this question as well as to examine the effects of adult verbal and nonverbal references to print on children's visual attention to print during storybook reading. Forty-four preschool-aged children participated in this study designed to determine the amount of visual attention children paid to print in 4 planned variations of storybook reading. Children's visual attention to print was examined when adults commented and questioned about print (verbal print condition) or pointed to and tracked the print (nonverbal print condition), relative to 2 comparison conditions (verbatim reading and verbal picture conditions). Results showed that children rarely look at print, with about 5%-6% of their fixations allocated to print in verbatim and verbal picture reading conditions. However, preschoolers' visual attention to print increases significantly when adults verbally and nonverbally reference print; both reading styles exerted similar effects. The authors conclude that explicit referencing of print is 1 way to increase young children's contacts with print during shared storybook reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple indicators of children's reading habits and attitudes: Construct validity and cognitive correlates.

63 5th-grade children completed daily-activity diaries indicating how they spent their nonschool time for 15 days. From these diaries, estimates of the minutes per day that were spent in various activities were derived. The estimate of book-reading time from the activity diary correlated with new measures of individual differences in exposure to print that use a checklist-with-foils logic and that have very brief administration times. Both diary-estimated and checklist-estimated book reading predicted a variety of verbal outcome measures, but estimates of television watching did not. Multiple regression and factor analysis confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of a construct argued to be best conceived of as nonschool print exposure that appears to be measured as well by the checklist tasks as by the activity-diary method. In contrast, certain types of questionnaire methods of assessing reading habits and attitudes appear to assess the extent of general positive attitudes toward reading rather than the degree of print exposure itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Executive dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease: Performance on a test of planning ability, the Porteus Maze Test.

Planning ability, as measured by the Porteus Maze Test, was evaluated in 85 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 65 controls. AD patients performed worse on Test Age and 2 of 5 qualitative error scores. Principal components analysis revealed 3 Porteus components: Test Age and First Third Errors; Cut Corner and Cross Line Errors; and Last Third Errors. Among AD patients, factor analysis of Porteus measures and other cognitive tests revealed 4 factors. A nonverbal factor included Test Age and 3 nonverbal measures. A verbal factor included no Porteus measure. The remaining factors resembled the last 2 components from the analysis of Porteus scores alone. Test Age and 4 other cognitive measures correlated with ratings on an activities of daily living scale. Porteus Maze performance was impaired in a substantial number of patients with dementia and may be a useful measure of executive function in this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal mediation in young aggressive boys.

Compared the performance of 49 aggressive and 46 normal boys ages 77–97 mo on measures of verbal ability, types of self-guiding speech, nonverbal intelligence, reading achievement, impulsivity, ability to inhibit responses, and response modulation following overt and covert commands. Tests administered included the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts, Matching Familiar Figures Test, and portions of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, WISC-R, Wide Range Achievement Test, and Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination. Discriminant function analysis resulted in correct classification of 88% of the cases. Variables with high scores contributing to classification as aggressive included vocabulary, immature and irrelevant private speech, fast reaction times, baseline speed of finger tapping, inhibition errors, and speed of responding during covert commands for slowing. Results are interpreted as consistent with the formulation that young aggressive boys fail to use verbal mediational activity in many situations in which it would be appropriate, and when it does occur, covert mediational activity may fail to achieve functional control over behavior. It is hypothesized that both learning and behavior problems in aggressive boys may be symptomatic of an ineffective linguistic control system. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and mediated influences of home literacy and literacy interest on prereaders' oral vocabulary and early written language skill.

Home literacy (reports of children's literacy activities at home and parents' storybook title recognition) and literacy interest (children's reports of feelings about literacy activities) were identified as 2 independent sources of literacy experience among 92 kindergarten prereaders. Together, they accounted for significant variance in oral vocabulary (21%) and on a letter-name and letter-sound measure of early written language (18%). Entering phonological awareness first in hierarchical regression eliminated home literacy's unique contribution to written language but not to vocabulary, indicating that home literacy is directly related to vocabulary but that phonological awareness mediates its relationship with written language. Literacy interest was unrelated to phonological awareness and accounted for unique variance in written language only. Discussion focused on print exposure versus explicit print-sound instruction in home literacy activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The disappearance of cognitive gender differences: What you see depends on where you look.

Comments on A. Feingold's (see record 1988-18577-001) review of gender differences (GDs) on the Differential Aptitude Tests and Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/Scholastic Aptitude Test, which argues that cognitive GDs are disappearing. The present author offers observations regarding sampling issues in high school populations, verbal abilities (VAs), and visual–spatial abilities (VSAs), suggesting that Feingold's conclusions regarding VAs and VSAs are unwarranted. It is contended that (1) the implicit assumption that the disappearance of cognitive GDs is good and (2) the prevailing notion that differences denote deficiencies may also be unwarranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Putting the keyword method in context.

Compared the keyword method of learning new vocabulary with a context method in which the meaning of the new vocabulary items had to be inferred from a meaningful context. In Exp I, with 69 undergraduates, the keyword method produced greater definition recall than the context method, even when such recall was conditionalized on context Ss' correct discovery of the word's meaning. Combining the keyword method with the context method significantly improved recall over that of context alone but produced recall below that displayed by the keyword method alone. For Ss high in verbal ability, as assessed by the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the keyword method did not promote significantly better recall than a no-strategy control condition. In Exp II, with 42 Ss, the keyword and context methods were evaluated in terms of how adequately the vocabulary could be used in sentences. Both methods led to highly adequate use of vocabulary in sentences, given that the word's meaning could be recalled. As in Exp I, the keyword method produced significantly greater definition recall than the context method. Implications for vocabulary learning theories and discovery learning approaches are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Prospective Span as a Cognitive Ability": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Louis S. Dickstein (Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 1969, 33[6], 757-760. On page 758, column 1, paragraph 2, sentence 2, the reliability of .80 should refer to interjudge reliability rather than test-retest reliability. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1970-03616-001.) Hypothesized that prospective span (PS) in TAT stories, as a measure of cognitive capacity of anticipation, should be related to cognitive tasks involving the specific capacity of anticipation but not to more general measures of verbal intelligence. In 51 male undergraduates, PS was related to 2 cognitive tasks requiring anticipation, the Mazes Test and the Seeing Deficiencies Test, but unrelated to the Vocabulary and Information subtests of the WAIS. Contrary to previous studies, PS was negatively related to academic grades. Large differences were obtained between PS scores for the different TAT cards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)