Some psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Clarity of Auditory Imagery Scale

Few tests have been designed to measure auditory imagery. This study assessed the factor structure and internal consistency of the Spanish version of the Clarity of Auditory Imagery Scale (CAIS). Participants were 234 undergraduate students (M age = 19.6 yr.). Internal consistency reliability estimated by Cronbach's alpha was .82. In a principal components analysis followed by varimax orthogonal rotation, five factors were identified. Scores correlated moderately and positively with ratings on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 and negatively on the auditory scale of Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, but weakly and negatively with scores on the Measure of the Ability to Form Spatial Mental Imagery.     

Internal consistency and construct validity of two versions of the Revised Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire

The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Marks, 1973) is the questionnaire most extensively used to measure imagery vividness, but two newer versions have been developed. In this study, the reliability and construct validity of these two measures were assessed: the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VVIQ-2) and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-Revised Version (VVIQ-RV). A total of 206 undergraduate psychology students completed both questionnaires, and to assess construct validity, they also completed the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ), Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery (Betts' QMI), and the Measure of Ability to Form Spatial Mental Imagery (MASMI). Internal consistency reliability for both was high, with the VVIQ-RV having a Cronbach's alpha of .96, and the VVIQ-2 an alpha of .91. The construct validity of the VVIQ-RV and the VVIQ-2 was supported by the high correlations they had with the other three measures of imagery, which were all close to .50, and the very small correlations (.06-.07) they had with the Verbal scale of the OSIVQ, indicating that they validly measured the imagery construct. Thus, the findings support the two versions as equally valid psychometric instruments for measuring image vividness.     

Are cognitive sex differences disappearing? Evidence from Spanish populations

Sex differences in cognitive abilities were determined using the norms from two standardizations of the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) and the Primary Mental Abilities (PMA) conducted between 1979 and 1995 in Spain. The standardized sex differences (ds) were computed separately for the DAT and the PMA subscales. Males scored higher in the DAT subscales Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Ability, Spatial Relations and Mechanical Reasoning, as well as in the PMA subscales Numerical Ability and Mental Rotation. Females scored higher in Inductive Reasoning (PMA-R) in the 1979 and 1995 standardizations. Taken together, these data do not support the hypothesis that cognitive sex differences are disappearing: there are still some differences favoring females and still some differences favoring males.     

Dissociative Experiences and Vividness of Auditory Imagery

The relationship between dissociation and auditory imagery were assessed, 2 variables that sometime influence on artistic creativity. A total of 170 fine arts undergraduates (94 women and 76 men) received 2 dissociation questionnaires—the Dissociative Ability Scale (DAS), and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)—and 2 auditory imagery questionnaires—the Auditory Imagery Questionnaire (AIQ) and the Clarity of Auditory Imagery Scale (CAIS). Significant differences on the auditory imagery (CAIS) have been found between individuals scoring high or low on the DES and DAS. In this study, however, significant differences were only observed on the Auditory Imagery Questionnaire (AIQ) between individuals scoring high or low on the DAS. Moreover, conflicting results have been obtained on the influence of dissociative experiences on dissociative skills in 2 auditory imagery tests. The discrepancies in the results only lead to more questions being asked than answered. Several lines of research are proposed.     

The Relationship between Imagery Ability and Imagery Use among Athletes

The present study aimed to provide a better understanding of the relationship between imagery ability and imagery use. Athletes completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire—Revised Second Version, the Motivational Imagery Ability Measure for Sport, and the Sport Imagery Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that imagery ability explained 20 to 41% of the variance in the use of the functions of imagery. Visual and kinesthetic imagery ability predicted cognitive specific imagery use; motivational general-mastery and motivational general-arousal imagery ability predicted the use of the motivational general functions of imagery. To assess imagery ability multiple methods of assessment must be used.     

Individual differences in reported visual imagery and memory performance.

Seventy high school students completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Two months later, the 16 highest scores (low visualizers) and the 16 lowest scores (high visualizers) took part in a memory experiment involving abstract words, concrete words and pictures. Analyses of variance showed that high visualizers were superior to low visualizers on all three kinds of item in short-term recall, whereas they were only superior on the concrete words and pictures in long-term recall. Finally, both groups performed equally well on a subsequent recognition test. The results were interpreted as providing support for the validity of the VVIQ.     

青海大学生创造性思维及其相关因素研究

本文采用创造性思维问卷、推理能力测验问卷和Y—G量表对青海省四所高校的548名大学生的创造性思维及其相关因素进行研究。结果显示：(1)青海省大学生发散性思维三个特征的发展水平与青海省的经济发展和教育条件与水平密切关联。(2)创造性思维是逻辑和非逻辑思维有机结合。(3)学科性质不同、上大学起点不同对大学生创造性思维的发展有着重要影响。(4)推理能力与语词创造性的发展密切联系,但与图形创造性无显著性相关。(5)性格特征通过认知方式对创造性思维产生影响。     

Intelligence and imagery in personality.

One hundred college undergraduates were administered the Richardson revision of the Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control, the Betts-Sheehan Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, and the Shipley-Hartford Institute of Living Scale. The latter provided a conceptual quotient (CQ) score of intellectual impairment based upon a ratio between vocabulary and abstraction scores. Subjects with CQs above 100 had significantly higher control scores (p less than .02). High control subjects had significantly higher total IQ scores than did low control subjects (p less than .04). Subjects with high and medium range control had higher vocabulary scores than those with low control. This suggests possible assessment of proneness toward introverted and extraverted neuroticism based upon a combination type of imagery score and the ratio between abstract or vocabulary scores. The connection of imagery with dimensions of IQ may be a start toward a more refined measure of this aspect of personality. Problems and implications are discussed.     

Age differences in the relationship between visual movement imagery and performance on kinesthetic acuity tests

The Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire was administered to 280 fourteen-year-olds and 186 ten-year-olds, who were then tested on measures of kinesthetic acuity. The relationship between visual movement imagery and kinesthetic acuity scores was significant in the older group: Those with high levels of visual movement imagery performed significantly better on measures of kinesthetic acuity than did those with low imagery. No such effect was found in the younger group. The results indicate that for adolescents, the confounding effect of visual imagery affects the researcher's ability to interpret kinesthetic acuity scores. The relationship between imagery and kinesthesis appears to develop over the period between 10 and 14 years, although such an interpretation may be premature because the measurement of visual movement imagery in the younger age group is problematic.     

Visual field asymmetries in attention vary with self-reported attention deficits

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an index of self-reported attention deficits predicts the pattern of visual field asymmetries observed in behavioral measures of attention. Studies of “normal” subjects do not present a consistent pattern of asymmetry in attention functions, with some studies showing better left visual field (LVF) performance, others showing no asymmetry or even a right visual field (RVF) advantage. Here we found that a participant variable (a measure of self-reported attention problems) may help to explain these inconsistencies. We used Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales to measure self-reported attention problems in a group of 36 normal (non-ADHD) subjects, and we used two behavioral tasks to directly measure their attentional abilities: a lateralized Attention Network Task (ANT) and a visual search task. Comparing subjects with relatively Low versus High scores on the attention-deficit (AD) scale, we found that subjects with High scores were less efficient in orienting attention to the left visual field. When LVF targets were preceded by a valid spatial cue, response times were positively correlated with AD scores, indicating slower covert-attention shifts as attention-deficit scores increased. Right visual field data showed a different pattern of results. Subjects with High AD scores were at least as efficient as those with Low AD scores in orienting attention to the RVF. This study provides evidence that visual field asymmetries in orienting attention vary across individuals, and that level of self-reported attention problems correlates with behavioral deficiencies in orienting attention to the left visual field.     

The relationship between competitive anxiety and imagery use

Abstract

Imagery has been proposed to be an effective strategy for controlling levels of competitive anxiety, but little b known about how imagery functions to achieve this. This study explored the relationship between imagery use. imagery ability. competitive anxiety and performance. Fifty-seven Junior North American Roller Skating Championship competitors completed the revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R), the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ), and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory—2 (CSAI-2). Results from stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed visual imagery ability and motivational arousal imagery to be predictors of cognitive state anxiety. Visual imagery ability also predicted somatic state anxiety. while motivational mastery imagery was a predictor of self-confidence. With respect to the relationship between imagery use and imagery ability, high imagery ability was associated with higher imagery use. Finally, self-confidence and kinesthetic imagery ability scores correctly classified a majority of the subjects as medalists versus non-medalists. These results suggest that imagery can be used to help control competitive anxiety levels and enhance self-confidence.     

Self-rated autistic-like traits and capacity of visual working memory

The effect on the capacity of visual working memory of spatial complexity (as defined by Garner's principle) in rotation and reflection transformation was examined in persons differing along the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), using a change-detection task. On each trial, nine line segments were arrayed in simple, medium, and complex configurations, which were presented in memory and test displays. 27 participants (8 men, 19 women; M age = 22.3 yr., SD = 2.7) were asked whether the orientations of stimuli between two displays were the same or different. On the basis of their AQ scores out of 50 (M AQ scores = 20.9, SD = 6.3), the participants were divided into groups with high (n = 13; M AQ scores = 26.2, SD = 4.1) and low (n = 12; M AQ scores = 15.3, SD = 2.7) self-reported autistic-like traits (High and Low AQ groups, 2 excluded for scores at the median). The results showed that spatial complexity affects the capacity of visual working memory for the Low AQ group but not for the High AQ group, suggesting the functional dissociation of spatial configuration and visual working memory in the High AQ group.     

Effects of cognitive training on primary mental ability structure

We report results of the first empirical test, as far as we know, of the assumption of structural invariance of latent constructs from pretest to posttest in cognitive training research on the elderly. In all, 401 participants in the Seattle Longitudinal Study, over 62 years old, received a 5-hr test battery at pre- and posttest that included 16 ability tests, marking the five primary abilities of Spatial Orientation, Inductive Reasoning, Numerical Ability, Verbal Ability, and Perceptual Speed. A total of 229 of our subjects received 5 hr of individual training on either Spatial Orientation or Inductive Reasoning. Restricted factor analysis with the LISREL algorithm tested the hypothesis of measurement equivalence across test occasions, separately for the control subjects and for each of the training groups. When ability-specific cognitive training intervenes, no structural change is observed for abilities not subject to intervention. However, slight shifts occurred in the optimal regression weights for the different markers for the training target abilities.     

ITEM BIAS INDICES BASED ON TOTAL TEST SCORE AND JOB PERFORMANCE ESTIMATES OF ABILITY

Researchers (e.g., Ironson, 1982; Tenopyr, 1990) have suggested that item bias investigators equate subgroups on external criteria such as job performance rather than total test scores before considering subgroup passing rates on test items. In a study comparing these two approaches to studies of item bias, we found little evidence of bias using total test score as the estimate of overall examinee ability, but nearly all items were biased in comparisons of white and African-American subgroups on Numerical, Verbal, and Mechanical Reasoning tests and in male-female comparisons on a Mechanical Reasoning test when job performance was used to select "equally able" examinees. However, the use of job performance as the ability index is analogous to performance-based approaches to test bias (Hartigan & Wigdor, 1989; Thorndike, 1971) and directly equivalent to the Darlington (1971) and Cole (1973) test bias definition, the logical inconsistencies of which have been previously described (Hunter & Schmidt, 1976; Peterson & Novick, 1976). We conclude that performance matching as a basis of forming "equal ability" groups is inappropriate.     

客体-空间表象和言语认知风格模型及其测量

在言语-表象认知风格模型中, 视觉表象认知风格一直被视为单一的结构, 且在此基础上发展出的各种测量方法均存在效度上的缺陷, 导致了研究者对该认知风格模型的普遍质疑。随着对视觉认知加工研究的深入, 尤其是对视觉客体表象与视觉空间表象在功能和解剖上的双分离的理解, 为进一步区分表象型认知风格提供了理论和实证依据, 进而促进了客体-空间表象和言语(Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal, OSIV)认知风格模型的提出, 而在此基础上开发的新测量工具(Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire, OSIVQ)具有良好的信、效度, 有力地支持了OSIV认知风格模型。OSIV认知风格模型及其测量为研究人类的认知风格以及视觉认知拓展了新视野。尽管如此, 两种不同视觉表象子系统并存于个体的视觉表象系统中, 因此, 它们分离的原因、相互作用及其与视觉注意之间的关系有待进一步研究。     

An inquiry into the construct validity of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire

The construct validity of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) was investigated using a series of visual memory tasks. Subjects were shown a picture after completing the questionnaire. Their ability to recall that picture was probed through a free-recall procedure, drawing, two spatial-recall tasks, and a multiple-choice questionnaire. Scores on the VVIQ were statistically unrelated to performance on any of the memory tasks demonstrating a lack of support for construct validity as a measure of visual memory imagery.     

Sensitivity to sensoriprocessing, self-discrepancy, and emotional reactivity of collegiate athletes

This study investigated how differences between athletes who scored low and high on sensoriprocessing sensitivity apply self-discrepancies and emotional reactions to competitive sporting events. Two hypotheses were proposed: The High Sensitivity group (n = 33) would score higher for anxiety, guilt, and shame, and lower on pride and report more stress attributed to self-discrepancies than the Low Sensitivity group (n = 32) following competitive sports events. Collegiate varsity athletes were administered the High Sensitivity Scale prior to competition and completed the Selves Questionnaire and the Goal Congruent and Incongruent Emotion Scale immediately after competition. Scores for the High Sensitivity Scale were used to separate athletes into high and low sensitivity groups. A multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent univariate analyses indicated that the High Sensitivity group reported higher scores on anxiety, shame, and stress than the Low Sensitivity group. This was interpreted as reflecting differences between both ideal and ought self-discrepancies.     

Action Observation and Imagery Training Improve the Ease With Which Athletes Can Generate Imagery

Imagery can improve sport performance, although its efficacy is mediated by the ease with which athletes can generate images. Establishing techniques that improve this imagery ability factor is desirable to enhance the effectiveness of imagery interventions. Twenty-seven club-level female golfers were assigned to imagery, action observation, or physical practice training groups (n = 9). Changes in image generation ease were assessed using the Revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire over an 8-week period. Imagery and action observation training were both effective in improving aspects of imagery ability. Action observation can provide sport psychologists with an effective tool for improving visual imagery ability in athletes.     

Male sexual fantasy: multidimensionality in content

Sixty-six men provided ratings of the extent to which they regarded fantasies depicting nominated sexual activities as sexually arousing. A Male Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (MSFQ) with five subscales was constructed following factor analysis of these ratings. The subscales yield separate scores for fantasies representing sensual, genital, public sex, sexual dominance-submission, and sexual aggression themes. Levels of penile tumescence recorded while men engaged in fantasies depicting content represented in the MSFQ correlated with the extent to which these men earlier had rated these same fantasies as sexually arousing. Since ratings on the MSFQ did not correlate substantially or consistently with scores on the Betts Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, the Imaginal Processes Inventory, and the Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control, sexual fantasy may be mediated by processes different from those involved in non-sexual imagery and daydreaming. The need to validate use of the MSFQ in several clinical contexts is noted.