The performance characteristics of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Exam (NCSE) (R. Kiernan and others, 1987) was studied with 50 outpatients, most with cognitive dysfunction using comprehensive neuropsychological assessment as the criterion. Results suggest that operating characteristics of the NCSE depend on the nature of the sample assessed…

Two studies examined how task content that activates predator-avoidance affects preschool children's performance on a false-belief task. Findings indicated that the proportion of correct answers on the playmate-avoidance task was greater than that for the predator-avoidance task, suggesting that activation of the predator-avoidance system…

Employed a modified dual task approach with 7- to 9-year olds to determine whether one of the classic M-power measures, the digit placement task, is indeed capacity-limited. Found that several critical assumptions concerning the use of the dual-task procedure were met; further testing revealed that the digit placement task is indeed…

Examined the validity of a telephone-assessed measure of cognitive ability in a sample of 52 6- to 8-year-old children. The telephone test, which contained verbal and performance-based measures, appears to be a feasible approach, with correlation after range restriction of r=0.72. (SLD)

Discusses the concept of metalinguistic awareness and describes the administration of the Test of Metalinguistic Ability (TAM) to 300 Italian elementary school children. (34 references) (CFM)

A new model, the acceleration model, is proposed in the framework of the heterogeneous case of the graded response model, based on processing functions defined for a finite or enumerable number of steps. The model is expected to be useful in cognitive assessment. (SLD)

Parents of gifted children are urged to understand that there are many different kinds of intelligence and ability tests; tests are designed for different purposes; all tests involve a certain amount of error; and tests only sample one aspect of a child's performance. (DB)

Thirty-two preschool children were administered the Cognitive Levels Test (CLT) to evaluate its temporal stability and concurrent validity. Results indicated good temporal stability for the CLT-Cognitive Index and high correlations between the CLT-Cognitive Index and the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition. (Author/JDD)

Demographic influences on performance on a modified version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (D. Gronwall and H. Sampson, 1974), a measure of some cognitive functions, were studied with 566 healthy North-American adults. Age, education, and ethnicity were significant predictors. A formula and tables are presented for computing T scores…

Reviews Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT), a new assessment of cognitive function for technical qualities such as reliability, validity, and standardization characters. Concludes that KAIT represents advancements in cognitive assessment but cannot be regarded as superior to existing intelligence measures until data is available…

Lessons that researchers in the field of child assessment may learn from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and their implications for future directions are identified. Based in part on these lessons, an alternative assessment model is proposed for the alternative assessment of children with reading problems. (SLD)

Investigated the validity of inferences from A. Jensen's method of studying group differences on cognitive tests (1985) and compared the validity of inferences to inferences based on multi-group confirmatory factor analysis using constructed population covariance matrices. Results show the insensitivity of Jensen's method and the superiority of…

Examined whether processing speed tests can predict the benefits of extended test time for college students with learning disabilities. Found that the Visual Matching and Cross Out tests from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability-Revised were significantly correlated with the benefit of extended test time, while the Digit Symbol subtest…

This study examined the validity of the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB) for measuring cognitive decline in clients with Down syndrome with 10 individuals showing behavioral decline on a standard measure and 14 individuals without such decline. On the SIB, the deteriorating group showed a significant decline between baseline and 12 and 24 months…

Examined the relationship between elementary cognitive tasks and the general factor of intelligence ("g") through tests administered to 568 elementary school students in a study of twins. Findings indicate a memory processing component in addition to a general information processing component contributing to "g" estimates. (SLD)