Validity of the Draw a Person: A Quantitative Scoring System (DAP:QSS) for Clinically Evaluating Intelligence

To assess the psychometric properties of the Draw a Person: A Quantitative Scoring System (DAP:QSS), in 2543 children (M = 11.43 ± 3.06 years), correlations between drawings scores and Raven’s Matrices scores, age, and academic achievement were examined. Although older children (> 11 years) obtained higher drawing scores than younger ones (p < 0.001), age significantly correlated with DAP:QSS scores only in children younger than 11 years (r = 0.493, p < 0.001), indicating conflictive evidence for construct validity and a possible ceiling effect. No correlations emerged between DAP:QSS scores and grades (r = 0.056, p = 0.097). DAP:QSS scores were significantly associated with Raven’s Matrices score, but low correlation coefficients (0.156–0.498), low sensitivity (0.12), and high false negative (87.9%) and positive (82%) rates suggest poor DAP:QSS validity as an intelligence measure. The researchers concluded that DAP:QSS failed to produce a psychometrically sound assessment of children’s intellectual functioning.

Post-Surgery Cognitive Dysfunction Diagnostics in Children

Neuropsychological tests can be used to diagnose post-surgery cognitive dysfunction in children. These tests are characterized by attractiveness, accessibility and short duration. Correction tasks, Raven’s matrices, various modifications of words memory tests meet all these requirements. Comprehensive assessment of cognitive functions (including MMSE scale and batteries of computer tests) seems to be optimal.

Digital Natives and Dual Task: Handling It But Not Immune Against Cognitive-Locomotor Interferences

Digital natives developed in an electronic dual tasking world. This paper addresses two questions. Do digital natives respond differently under a cognitive load realized during a locomotor task in a dual-tasking paradigm and how does this address the concept of safety? We investigate the interplay between cognitive (talking and solving Raven’s matrices) and locomotor (walking on a treadmill) tasks in a sample of 17 graduate level participants. The costs of dual-tasking on gait were assessed by studying changes in stride interval time and its variability at long-range. A safety index was designed and computed from total relative change between the variability indices in the single walking and dual-task conditions. As expected, results indicate high Raven’s scores with gait changes found between the dual task conditions compared to the single walking task. Greater changes are observed in the talking condition compared to solving Raven’s matrices, resulting in high safety index values observed in 5 participants. We conclude that, although digital natives are efficient in performing the dual tasks when they are not emotional-based, modification of gait are observable. Due to the variation within participants and the observation of high safety index values in several of them, individuals that responded poorly to low cognitive loads should be encouraged to not perform dual task when executing a primate task of safety to themselves or others.

Similarity-Based Reasoning, Raven's Matrices, and General Intelligence

This paper presents a model tackling a variant of the Raven's Matrices family of human intelligence tests along with computational experiments. Raven's Matrices are thought to challenge human subjects' ability to generalize knowledge and deal with novel situations. We investigate how a generic ability to quickly and accurately generalize knowledge can be succinctly captured by a computational system. This work is distinct from other prominent attempts to deal with the task in terms of adopting a generalized similarity-based approach. Raven's Matrices appear to primarily require similarity-based or analogical reasoning over a set of varied visual stimuli. The similarity-based approach eliminates the need for structure mapping as emphasized in many existing analogical reasoning systems. Instead, it relies on feature-based processing with both relational and non-relational features. Preliminary experimental results suggest that our approach performs comparably to existing symbolic analogy-based models.

Efekti različitih metoda poučavanja na usvajanje gradiva iz matematike kod učenika četvrtih razreda osnovne škole

Proceeding from the principle of the rational organisation of learning, the investigation attempted to establish the effect of programmed teaching of mathematics with the help of computers. The investigation was carried out in March 1999 amongst 87 pupils attending the fourth grade in the “Šime Budinić” elementary school in Zadar. A test (1) which examined the level of acquired knowledge from math was applied. The pupils were also tested with Raven’s progressive coloured matrices which examine the children’s ability to draw logical conclusions. General grades and grades from math at the end of the first semester were also collected. Using a model of regressive analysis where the test results from mathematics and the results of Raven’s matrices were treated as predictor variables and general grades and the semestar grade from mathematics as criterion variables it was established dial only the result of the math test was a significant predictor of criterion variables. This is why according to the results of the math test the pupils in the classroom were assigned to the experimental (E) and the control (C) group (four E and and four C groups)respectively. The experimental groups was taught a lesson from mathematics (during four school classes) with the help of programmed material on the computer (N=43) while the control pupils were taught in the traditional manner “by their teacher using chalk and a blackboard". The level of acquired knowledge from the assigned lesson amongst pupils in group E and C was examined by another math test. The results show that there is no statistical significant difference in the quantity of acquired knowledge between the experimental and control group of pupils. The investigation showed that both programmed and traditional teaching are equally effective.

Culture, lay science, and analogies: Westerners think X -> Y, Easterners think X :: Y

Myriad research establishes that Easterners think more holistically (i.e., attend to the “big picture” of how the world fits together and rely more on intuition) than Westerners do. Yet little is known about how Easterners integrate, structure, and make sense the information gleaned through holistic thinking. This paper proposes that, compared to Westerners, Easterners may rely more on analogical reasoning to integrate information and gain a sense of understanding their worlds. Four studies provide evidence that Easterners rely more on analogical reasoning that Westerners do. Compared to Westerners, Easterners found it easier to generate analogical explanations for understanding an outcome, preferred analogical to non-analogical explanations, showed some evidence of being more likely to spontaneously apply analogical solutions to the Duncker ray tumor problem, and tended to use more individual analogies in cultural products like children’s stories. Easterners, however, did not show evidence of being better at highly structured analogical reasoning (e.g., the Raven’s matrices) than Westerners. These findings suggest that Easterners and Westerners may both be able to reason analogically when required, but Easterners may spontaneously rely more on analogical reasoning to gain a sense of understanding of the world.

Effectiveness of Phonological Awareness Skills Training in Improving Decoding Skills of Children with Reading Disabilities

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a phonological awareness skills training program in improving decoding skills of third grade students with reading disabilities. The initial sample included 40 students enrolled in the learning disabilities program in elementary schools in Oman. They were assessed for diagnosing those who have reading disabilities through adopting the procedures of the IQ-achievement discrepancy model. The Raven’s Matrices and a reading achievement test were administered to students. Then, 14 students among those diagnosed with reading disabilities were randomly distributed to an experimental and a control group. Participants in the experimental group received training in phonological awareness for 10 weeks whereas the control group participants did not. The participants of both groups were administered two tests in phonological awareness (PA) and decoding skills (DS) pre and post the training. Results of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups on the sub-tests of the PA and DS tests except for fluency in reading passages. However, a comparison of the pre and post scores of the experimental groups showed that they obtained significant gains in all sub scores following the training.