Two experiments examined whether the correlation between advances on theory-of-mind and executive function tasks results from the tasks posing the same executive demands among 3- to 6- year-olds. Findings indicated that performance on the dimensional change card-sorting task (a measure of executive function) was correlated with performance on the…

Describes a study that analyzed the Educational Testing Service's (ETS) Tasks in Critical Thinking as a measure of college student critical thinking skills. Reports that difficulty levels of the Tasks and Skills were not consistent--overall, the number of general education courses taken did not affect student performance on the task, and students'…

This study found that 331 Toronto (Ontario, Canada) adolescent and adult subjects with learning disabilities could be grouped into three subtypes: (1) arithmetic disability, (2) reading disability, and (3) reading and arithmetic disabilities. Each group differed significantly from the others on tests of reading, spelling, memory, and other…

This study determines the comparability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in relation to gifted children. Results indicate that both tests produce remarkably similar scale and subtest scores when administered under clinical conditions. (JPS)

The joint factor structure of the Differential Abilities Scale (DAS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was investigated with 115 normal children (ages 8-15). Analysis supported the DAS structure and the WISC-III four-factor reinterpretation of the WISC-R. (Author/DB)

Cognitive functioning studies document declines in processing efficiency. Strategies for coping with declines are accommodation, compensation, and remediation. However, both the research findings and the suggestion that declines can be remediated are controversial. (SK)

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.…

Twenty-two children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were compared to a matched sample of neurologically normal children and adolescents on several measures of cognitive processing. Results are consistent with the literature demonstrating poor performance on measures of attention and executive functioning among children who have…

Two experiments illustrate using blank-comparison matching to sample with adolescents with mental retardation. In the first experiment, the method was used to explore bases for emergent symbolic mapping performances. In the second, similarity judgments between form stimuli were assessed. Both experiments confirmed the feasibility and utility of…

Eight measures of cognitive and language function of 232 elementary school children were subjected to multiple methods of cluster analysis in an effort to identity subtypes of reading disability. Results, which yielded nine reliable subtypes, suggest that children with reading disability usually display impairments on phonological awareness…

Dealing with the public perception of Physical Education and wellness has been a constant struggle for many professionals in this area of study. Many perceive Physical Education/ wellness as an "easy" course or simply non-essential. These perceptions may contribute to the gap between one's explicit knowledge (i.e., perception of…

Phonological awareness is strongly related to reading ability, but reports are more conflicting concerning the association of high level oculomotor skills with reading. Here, we show that phonological awareness is specifically associated with the ability to perform smooth pursuit eye movements in preschool children. Two large independent samples…

Through the use of several tests of cognition we have documented sex differences in young children, adolescents, and adults on tasks that rely on the integrity of the orbital prefrontal cortex. In children under three years of age, males performed with significantly fewer errors than did females on tests of object reversals. No significant sex…

There is a significant association between birth weight and cognitive test scores in childhood, even among individuals born at term and with normal birth weight. The association is not explained by the child's social background. Here we examine whether mother's cognitive ability accounts for the birth weight-cognitive ability association. We…

Two experiments tested the ability of 4- and 8-year-old children to encode the extent of a target dowel and later discriminate between the target and a foil having a novel extent. By manipulating the heights of containers in which we presented the stimuli we tested whether children used the relation between the dowels and containers for encoding…