The world's population is aging at an increasing rate. Even in the absence of neurodegenerative disorders, healthy aging affects perception and cognition. In the context of cognition, common factors are well established. Much less is known about common factors for vision. Here, we tested 92 healthy older and 104 healthy younger participants in 19…

The aim of this study was to establish cognitive profiles of dyslexic adults on tests developed within the three main theories of developmental dyslexia: phonological, visual magnocellular and cerebellar and to investigate which theory can account for these profiles. The sample consisted of 15 Polish university students or alumni with a formal…

This study found that 13 autistic subjects performed less well on cognitive than on visual perspective-taking tasks at two levels of difficulty. Autistic subjects performed as well as 13 intellectually handicapped controls and 13 normal controls on visual perspective-taking tasks but more poorly than controls on cognitive perspective-taking tasks.…

Three groups of 20 fourth-grade children differing in imitation level were given embedded figures, locus of control, central-incidental and matching familiar figures tasks and tests. Results appear to show a relationship between imitation and selective attention but not with other aspects of cognitive style. (RH)

Demonstrates the existence of six factors of social intelligence dealing with understanding other people's thoughts, feelings, and intentions. Called factors of "behavioral cognition", they refer only to the abilities to cognize or understand behavior and not to other abilities which might more broadly and inclusively be termed…

The purpose of this study is to: (1) examine the relative effectiveness with which different types of visual test formats facilitated information retrieval on tests measuring different educational objectives; (2) measure the effect that prior knowledge had on information retrieval; and (3) to determine whether an interaction existed between prior…

This study examined 2- to 3-year-olds' ability to make a pretend-real distinction in the absence of content cues. Children watched two actors side by side. One was really eating, and the other was pretending to eat, but in neither case was information about content available. Following the displays, children were asked to retrieve the real food…

The construct of spatial ability is discussed and it is suggested that some widely used and cited tests that are called spatial ability tests may not be valid measures of that ability. Instead, their items may be solved using mental processes that are clearly analytical and not spatial in nature. Four studies involving the analysis of subjects'…

A project to evaluate Furth's Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks is described, particularly as that test might be useful in adapting instruction and curricula to the cognitive level of science students. This multiple-choice paper-pencil inventory has 72 items in five problem areas: conservation, images, relations, classification, and laws.…

This study presents data augmenting the validity studies of the Wheatley Cube (McDaniel and Kroll, 1984), a computer managed test of spatial visualization. Twenty-one students in pilot training are administered several instruments designed to measure the ability to construct a cognitive three-dimensional space, including: (1) the Wheatley Cube,…

The Learning Style Profile (LSP), developed in four phases from the fall of 1983 to early 1986, identifies perceptual responses, cognitive skills, study preferences, and instructional preferences. This study assesses the LSP Simultaneous Processing Skill subscale, which is modeled after the work of the Russian neuropsychologist, A. R. Luria.…

The historical development and recent applications are described of the picture sequencing format (PSF), a testing device which requires the subject to designate a complete and correct order for a set of related pictures. The earliest use was by Decroly in 1914 and perhaps the best known use is in the Wechsler intelligence tests. Special…

Two tests of cognitive development, the Cartoon Conservation Scales, Levels I and II, were designed to measure Piagetian stage-related constructs for children of different age groups. The tests were factor analyzed within age levels and were also analyzed using scalogram and tabular methods to test sequential hypotheses. (Author/CTM)

Norms are tabulated for the Bender Gestalt Test, based on a group of 62 male and 73 female junior high school students in Utah. These norms are designed to fill a gap in norms which now range from 3 years through adult. The students in this group were aged 12 through 14. Standard Bender Gestalt cards were used. The tests were administered…

The purpose of this project was to administer the Motor Encoding Subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (IPTA) to a population of 50 American Indian students, and compare their scores with the established norms of the ITPA. Indian students with chronological ages 5-9 enrolled in the first 4 grades at the Fort Thompson…