Training the elderly on the ability factors of spatial orientation and inductive reasoning.

Examined the effects of cognitive training with 132 female and 97 male Ss (aged 64–95 yrs) who were classified as having remained stable or having declined over the previous 14-yr interval on each of 2 primary abilities, spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. Ss who had declined on one of these abilities received training on that ability; Ss who had declined on both abilities or who had remained stable on both were randomly assigned to the spatial orientation or inductive reasoning training programs. Training outcomes were examined within an ability-measurement framework with empirically determined factorial structure. Significant training effects, at the level of the latent ability constructs, occurred for both spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. These effects were general in that no significant interactions with decline status or gender were found. It is concluded that training interventions were effective both in remediating cognitive decline on the target abilities and in improving the performance of stable Ss. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cooperative peer interaction versus individual competition and individualistic efforts: Effects on the acquisition of cognitive reasoning strategies.

Compared the relative effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures on (a) achievement and (b) the acquisition of high-level cognitive reasoning strategies. Reasoning strategies involved in categorization and retrieval, language development, and mathematical tasks were examined. In the cooperative condition, Ss worked with peers of equal or diverse abilities. In the competitive condition Ss competed with peers of equal or diverse abilities. 86 1st-grade children were randomly assigned to conditions stratified by sex and academic ability. Results indicate that cooperative interaction, compared with competitive and individualistic learning, promoted higher achievement and the discovery of superior cognitive reasoning strategies. No differential effects were found concerning whether Ss were cooperating or competing with peers of equal, lower, or higher ability. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dichotic listening performance, cognitive ability, and cerebral organization.

Explored linkages between dichotic listening performance, cognitive ability, and cerebral organization, addressing 3 main questions: (1) the relationship of sex, handedness, and familial sinistrality to auditory laterality and to selected aspects of cognitive performance; (2) the relationship between laterality and cognitive ability; and (3) the relationship between verbal and musical laterality. Two dichotic listening tests (one involving recognition of stop consonant-vowel syllables and the other, recognition of melodic patterns) were administered to 120 college students balanced for handedness, sex, and familial sinistrality. Ss also underwent psychometric tests. Results indicate an independence of verbal and nonverbal laterality effects and support a componential (modular) theory of brain organization rather than one of complementarity. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal mediation deficits: Relation to behavior and achievement in children.

Examined relationships between specific types of verbal mediation deficiency and patterns of behavior and achievement in 59 7–11 yr old children with deficits in verbal intelligence (as determined by the WISC). Ss were also given the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the Behavioral Problem Checklist. Results show that abstract reasoning ability was positively related to self-control of acting-out behavior, inhibition of impulse, and adequate academic progress. Ss with reasoning deficits but adequate sequencing-memory abilities exhibited variable self-regulation behavior. Ss with both reasoning and sequencing-memory deficits showed relatively high levels of acting-out behavior, less inhibition, and low academic achievement. Findings suggest that different cognitive processes may underlie different patterns of behavioral self-control. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in moral reasoning.

Explored the possibility that socialization into different sex roles for men and women may contribute to the observed sex difference in moral development. 40 undergraduates were classified as either masculine, feminine, or androgynous according to the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and were administered the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). For half the Ss, the central character in the MJI dilemmas was a male and for the remaining half, a female. Results reveal that males, when judging from the perspective of a female character, provided reasons for her actions congruent with the Stage 3 level of moral reasoning. However, for the same action portrayed by a male character, reasons for his behavior were in accord with Stage 4. No difference for the female judges was found between the characters of either sex. Regardless of the protagonist's sex, Ss scored at Stage 3. Ss' moral reasoning did not differ according to their sex-role classification. Males, however, held more strongly than females the belief that male decisions on morality are based on law-and-order reasoning, and female decisions are made from an emotional perspective. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can decline in adult intellectual functioning be reversed?

Examined whether or not cognitive decline in the elderly that has been reliably demonstrated over a 14-yr period can be reversed. 97 male and 132 female participants (aged 64–95 yrs) in a long-term longitudinal study were classified into those who had declined (n?=?122) and those who had remained stable (n?=?107) on the abilities of inductive reasoning and spatial orientation, based on their performances on the Primary Mental Ability Reasoning and Spatial Orientation Tests. Ss were assigned to 5-hr training programs on either ability in a pretest–posttest design that used Ss trained on 1 target ability as controls for those trained on the other. Results show that cognitive training techniques reliably reverse decline in spatial and reasoning ability documented over a 14-yr period in a substantial number of Ss. Training procedures also enhanced the performance of many Ss who had remained stable. Training improvement on spatial orientation was found to be greater for decliners than for those who remained stable and greater for females than for males. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the ability to cope with situations of high arousal in a precision sport.

Conducted 3 field experiments in which skilled miniature golf players were studied in 3 types of activities (training, minor competitions, and large competitions). Ss for Exp I were 5 22–32 yr olds and 5 47–58 yr olds; 14 Ss in Exp II were aged 7–24 yrs, 15–28 yrs, or 19–45 yrs; Ss for Exp III were 5 48–59 yr olds and 6 23–35 yr olds. Performance (i.e., number of shots) and arousal (heart rate and subjective ratings of anxiety) measures were registered in all types of activities. Findings show that the level of performance of older adult players deteriorated in the large competitions, whereas groups of younger adult players, junior players, and youth players performed at the same level in all 3 events, although all of the groups exhibited a similar increase in arousal from training and minor competitions to large competitions. It is suggested that older players may have a deficit in the ability to compensate for the negative effects of nonoptimal levels of arousal because of impairments in a variety of cognitive abilities that are critical to successful performance. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning on social dilemmas varying in emotional saliency: An adult developmental perspective.

Examined age-comparative evidence of social cognitive reasoning in adulthood, as mediated by the emotional saliency of tasks tapping postformal reasoning. Specifically, the tasks focused on the ability to resolve discrepant accounts of the same event sequence. It was assumed that less mature thinking may be more evident in reasoning contexts in which emotional factors play a major role. A postformal coding scheme was used to assess levels of reasoning in an interpersonal context. Tasks were administered to 60 Ss—20 adolescents (aged 14–16.5 yrs), 20 young adults (aged 20–25 yrs), and 20 mature adults (aged 30–46 yrs). Measures of formal operations, ego level, and verbal ability were also administered, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Sentence Completion Test. An interaction was found between age and degree of emotional saliency of the task for reasoning level. Specifically, adolescents performed less well on tasks higher in degree of emotional saliency. In addition, developmental differences in postformal reasoning as a function of age and ego level were found. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and individual differences in conditional reasoning: The role of contradiction training and cognitive style.

Examined the development of conditional reasoning from the perspective of the competence-moderator-performance approach discussed by W. F. Overton (1985) and Overton and J. L. Newman (1982). The effects of task interpretation and cognitive style as moderator variables for conditional reasoning were examined, using 36 8th-, 36 10th-, and 36 12th-grade male students as Ss. Ss were given an inference task, and half the Ss at each grade level received training with contradictory evidence to alert them to faulty task interpretations. Generalization of training was assessed with a 2nd conditional reasoning task, and cognitive style was assessed with the Matching Familiar Figures Test. Results indicate that only the 12th graders benefited from contradiction training, and this training generalized to the subsequent task. A reflective style enhanced performance at each grade level for the initial task. However, the beneficial effects of a reflective style were restricted on the generalization task to 12th graders who had received contradiction training. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Handedness, sex, and eyedness as moderating variables in the relation between hypnotic susceptibility and functional brain asymmetry.

The number of eye movements to the right in response to verbal and spatial questions in an E-facing-S situation correlated moderately with measured hypnotic responsiveness for a sample of 30 male and 30 female right-handed undergraduates. This finding confirms earlier indications that hypnotic responsiveness may be a right hemisphere function in right-handed Ss. The correlation was not significant for 19 male and 11 female left-handed Ss. Further breakdowns of the sample produced much higher correlations with hypnotizability, indicating the roles of sex, handedness, and eyedness as moderating variables. Right-handed males yielded a correlation of -.68 and left-handed females a correlation of .58, while the correlations for right-handed females and left-handed males were nonsignificant. Left-handed males, if also left-eyed, showed a correlation of .52. Left-handed males who were right-eyed, however, showed a correlation of -.41. Right-handed females who were left-eyed and right-eyed produced correlations with appropriate opposite signs, but the differences were not significant. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning and conduct problems in the classroom.

Assessed 60 6th-graders for their level of moral development using the Moral Judgment Interview. Ss were also rated by their teachers on classroom conduct. Two hypotheses were investigated: (a) Ss who employ lower stages of moral reasoning will display more conduct problems than those who reason at higher levels; and (b) those who reason at lower levels will display more variability in their conduct ratings than their higher reasoning counterparts. Results, both before and after the effects of sex, verbal ability, and social class were controlled statistically, support both hypotheses. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in performance on ability tests as a function of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny.

Examined with 237 undergraduates the hypothesis that differences in performance on sex-typed ability tests may similarly be attributable to sex-role differences. A battery of tests was administered, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the California Psychological Inventory, and the Comrey Personality Scales, in addition to a male-superior mechanical reasoning test and a female-superior perceptual speed and accuracy test. Large sex differences were obtained. Masculine Ss of both sexes performed highest on mechanical reasoning, followed in order by androgynous, undifferentiated, and feminine Ss. No consistent sex-role differences emerged on the speed and accuracy test. As a control on general ability, the difference between standard scores for mechanical reasoning and for speed and accuracy was calculated; sex-role differences obtained here resembled those on the mechanical reasoning test. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Handedness and "automatization" cognitive style.

Evaluated the relation between "automatization" cognitive style and handedness, or degree of preferred-nonpreferred hand differentiation. 58 male undergraduates were tested on 8 cognitive tasks representing both automatized and nonautomatized abilities. After ipsatization of scores, 14 Ss were chosen as representing "strong automatization," and 14 Ss as "weak automatizers." All Ss were given 6 tests of manual performance using both preferred and nonpreferred hands. No differences were found between strong and weak automatizers in the degree of differentiation between overall preferred and nonpreferred hand performance. Explanations for these findings and the possible role of automatization cognitive style in hand differentiation in young children are discussed. (French summary) (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive style in two modalities: Vision and audition.

Administered the visual Matching Familiar Figures Sequential Presentation Task (MFF-SPT) and the Auditory Impulsivity Task (AIT), 2 match-to-sample tasks designed to measure cognitive style, to 81 4th graders. A moderate negative correlation was found between errors and latencies on the AIT, thus indicating that longer latency did not always result in better performance. A high negative correlation was found on the MFF-SPT. 55% of the Ss maintained their classification as reflective, impulsive, fast–accurate, or slow–inaccurate across the 2 modalities, providing evidence that the 2 tasks were measuring somewhat different abilities. Ss employed the same search strategy in both modalities. It is suggested that auditory cognitive style be investigated for relationships with reading ability. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male–female differences in predicting displaced volume: Strategy usage, aptitude relationships, and experience influences.

Investigated the role of aptitudes and experiences in gender differences in scientific reasoning by using the Predicting Displaced Volume (PDV), a scientific reasoning task known to be solved by males more frequently than females. 778 7th–11th graders were administered the PDV in groups. Of the Ss, 90% consistently used 1 of 4 expectation-based strategies to solve the problems. Males used the correct strategy more frequently than females; males and females both used the same incorrect strategies. It was found that gender differences in PDV did not reflect gender differences in spatial ability, field dependence–independence (FDI), or Piagetian formal reasoning. In addition, gender differences in PDV were not accounted for by science and math course-taking experience. Factors such as spatial ability and FDI may correlate highly with scientific reasoning task performance but may not account for gender-related differences in that performance. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting individual differences in complex skill acquisition: Dynamics of ability determinants.

Addresses the controvervesy about ability determinants of individual differences in performance during and subsequent to skill acquisition. An information-processing examination of ability–performance relations during complex task acquisition is described. Included are ability testing (including general, reasoning, spatial, perceptual speed, and perceptual/psychomotor abilities) and skill acquisition over practice on the terminal radar approach controller simulation. Results validate and extend P. L. Ackerman's (1988) theory of cognitive ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition. Benefits of ability component and task component analyses over global analyses of ability–skill relations are demonstrated. Implications are discussed for selection instruments to predict air traffic controller success and for other tasks with inconsistent information-processing demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of the influence of speed on adult age differences in cognition.

Two studies were conducted to determine the relations among age, motor speed, perceptual speed, and 3 measures of cognitive performance: study time, decision time, and decision accuracy. Each study involved over 240 adults (all Ss aged 18–87 yrs) who performed a battery of tests, including computer-administered tests of memory, reasoning, and spatial ability. Results indicate that (1) increased age was associated with lower accuracy as well as with longer study time and decision time and (2) some of the relations between age and decision accuracy and between age and decision time appear to be mediated by a slower rate of executing cognitive operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some cognitive abilities of Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis pupils aged 9 to 12 years.

Factor analysis of ability tests for Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis 9-12 yr. old pupils indicated for each sample 2 highly correlated oblique factors labelled v:ed and reasoning from nonverbal stimuli. When native Ss were scored on white T-score norms, least ethnic differences and least decline with age relative to white Ss occurred in the latter abilities. Written memory was an outstanding exception. There were almost no sex differences for any of the samples. (French summary) (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditional reasoning, representation, and level of abstraction.

This study examined the idea that (1) reasoning involves construction of mental representations (models) of premises and that (2) there is a developmental progression in the ability of Ss to reason with models containing concrete and abstract elements. Exp 1 found that for 13- and 16-yr-old Ss, reasoning with abstract content was more difficult than with concrete content. Younger Ss appeared to rely more on concrete representations that used real-world knowledge than on more general abstract representations. Exp 2 explored order effects in the presentation of concrete and abstract problems. Abstract followed by concrete problems led to reduced concrete-problem performance for high school students but did not affect performance for university students. These results support the hypotheses and suggest that development of formal reasoning abilities goes through 2 levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive abilities in Inuit and White children from similar environments.

Previous studies have emphasized the differential abilities of Inuit and White children, concluding that the Inuit have well developed spatial abilities and less well developed verbal-educational and inductive reasoning abilities when compared with White Ss. However, in many studies White and Inuit Ss have not been matched for either socioeconomic status or grade placement. The present study examined Inuit and White Ss from subsistence level fishing communities. Ss were 22 Inuit 1st graders with a mean age of 84.2 mo and White 1st graders as follows: 14 with a mean age of 89.4 mo, 16 with a mean of 83.1, and 22 with a mean of 86 mo. Vocabulary and arithmetic tests adapted from the Wechsler Pre-School and Primary Scale of Intelligence were utilized. There were no significant differences between Inuit and White Ss in spatial, verbal-educational, or inductive reasoning abilities. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)