Several analyses were conducted on data from samples of adults between 18 and 58 years of age who completed the same cognitive tests after an interval ranging from less than 1 week to 35 years. Because the retest interval varied across individuals, it was possible to determine the length of time needed before the gains associated with a retest…

In the present study, a systematic comparison of sex differences for several tests of spatial memory was conducted. Clear evidence for more accurate male performance was obtained for precise metric positional information in a wayfinding task and in an object location memory task. In contrast, no sex difference characterized topological information…

To test preschoolers' ability to flexibly switch between abstract rules differing in difficulty, ninety-three 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds were instructed to switch from an (easier) shape-sorting to a (harder) function-sorting rule, or vice versa. Children learned one rule, sorted four test sets, then learned the other rule, and sorted four more sets.…

Mixed Rasch models add latent classes to conventional Rasch models, assuming that the Rasch model applies within each class and that relative difficulties of items are different in two or more latent classes. This article considers a family of stochastically ordered mixed Rasch models, with ordinal latent classes characterized by increasing total…

In a study of the discourse of 100 people with Alzheimer's disease treated for 12 months with donepezil, we observed that, as a group, they used a form of tag, described here as a self-referential tag (SRT), 14 times more frequently than did caregivers. Patients use SRTs to check propositions dependent on episodic memory as in I haven't seen the…

This study examined the convergent relations between scores from four clinical clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III) and measures of executive functions using a sample of school-aged children and a sample of adults. The WJ III clinical clusters included the Working Memory, Cognitive Fluency, Broad Attention,…

This study attempted to determine whether children with the combined subtype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairments in cognitive functioning and motor skills. The specific effect of the comorbidity of learning disabilities (LD) was also investigated. A battery of cognitive tests was administered to 26 children with a…

Twenty-two children ranging in age from 2 to 3 years were tested on their abilities to apply weight and distance rules to the balance scale. This study was performed to test the prediction that 2-year-olds would be able to understand either a weight rule or a distance rule, but not be able to integrate the two. The sample group was instructed in…

This document reviews theories of cognitive style and methods of cognitive style assessment as they relate to the context of South Africa, where sociopolitical changes call for reassessment of theoretical assumptions in education and training. The report consists of six chapters. After a brief introductory chapter, the second chapter gives an…

One principal's criterion for proper decision-making information may be much different from that of another. Information providers need to decide what constitutes relevant information when communicating to decision-makers. Fifty-three principals and 11 assistant principals were administered two indicator tests to investigate the relationship…

Groups of individuals classified as "constricted" and "non constricted" according to three personality scores - anger expression, independence, and anomie - were contrasted on civil liberties attitude dimensions. It was found that "constricted" individuals do not have a simpler conceptual structure for those attitudes…

This 126-item test, the Learning Style Profile, was designed to assess 23 scales involving learners' cognitive skills, as well as emotional and environmental study preferences such as noise and temperature. It contains both verbal and pictorial items. The test was designed for sixth- through twelfth-grade students and has a readability level…

Students and instructors may be frustrated with students' lack of understanding of sociological concepts. We suggest that the difficulty of teaching and learning sociology is that sociological concepts and relationships require the use of abstract reasoning patterns. Many students are unaccustomed to using these abstract reasoning patterns. We use…

Three new tests presented as alternatives to the Wechsler tests for children were described in earlier papers of this session. This discussion reviews the earlier papers and comments on the developed tests: (1) the Woodcock-Johnson test; (2) the new Stanford-Binet; and (3) the K-ABC. The Woodcock-Johnson battery, state-of-the-art applications of…

Two factors which act to depress cognitive test performance are referred to as anxiety and boredom. The responses to a 20-item adjectival checklist administered to high school seniors after completing a cognitive test battery were subjected to iterative principal axes factor analysis. The relationships between anxiety or boredom and test…