Bidirectional associations in multiplication memory: conditions of negative and positive transfer

A variety of experimental evidence indicates that the memory representation for multiplication facts (e.g., 6 x 9 = 54) incorporates bidirectional links with a forward association from factors to product and a reverse association from product to factors. Surprisingly, the authors did not find evidence in Experiment 1 of facilitative transfer-of-practice from multiplication (6 x 9 = ?) to factoring (54 = ? x ?); in fact, multiplication practice produced item-specific interference with factoring. Similarly, the authors found no evidence in Experiment 2 that repetition of specific factoring problems (54 = ? x ?) facilitated performance of corresponding multiplication problems (6 x 9 = ?). In Experiment 3, participants practiced both multiplication and factoring and presented facilitative transfer in both directions. Thus, bidirectional facilitation occurred if both operations were practiced, but interference occurred when only one operation was practiced. We propose that this seemingly paradoxical behavior occurs because it is adaptive for the bidirectional retrieval structure to retain operational flexibility in the context of practicing both operations, whereas it is adaptive to specialize the memory representation for the practiced operation (i.e., factoring or multiplication) when only one operation is practiced.     

The Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale: Turkish Validation and Relationship to Academic Major

One common self-assessment of creativity is the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS). This article provides support for a Turkish translation of the instrument, offering exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to determine whether the factors were consistent across cultures. The participants consisted of two groups. The first group consisted of 1,260 undergraduate students (912 females, 348 males) at a public university in Turkey and was utilized for the principal axis factoring analysis. Horn's parallel analysis, a robust statistical technique, was employed to determine the number of factors to be extracted from a scale. The second group consisted of 1,215 participants (885 females and 330 males) who were utilized for confirmatory factor analysis. Results supported a nine-factor solution as a better fit for this sample than the five-solution originally used by Kaufman. Of the original five factors, four factors were divided into two sub-factors, which were distinct although moderately correlated. Finally, we determined the relationship between K-DOCS factors and college major. We also found good evidence for the construct, discriminant, and convergent validity of the scale. Relationships between K-DOCS factors and college major were largely consistent with predictions, providing additional evidence for the construct validity of the scale.     

A microprocessor-controlled clinical tromometer

A microprocessor-controlled clinical tromometer has been developed to permit routine monitoring of disease processes where tremor is a principal sign and in behavior studies where tremor may be used to index anxiety, stress, or response to Ethan. Emphasis is placed on the measurement technique and the design and construction of the device. The important role played by the microprocessor in providing for human factoring of the instrument to make it compatible with the clinical setting is examined.     

Multiple group methods for common-factor analysis: Their basis,computation, and interpretation

In a previous paper (1) were developed three basic theorems which were shown to provide numerical routines, as well as algebraic proof, for existing common-factor methods. New multiple routines were also indicated. The first theorem showed how to extract as many common factors as one wished from the correlation matrix in one operation. The second theorem showed how to do the same from the score matrix. The third proved that factoring the correlation matrix was equivalent to factoring the score matrix. A particular application of these theorems is the multiple group factoring method, which the writer first used in practice on some Army attitude scores during World War II. The present paper explains the basic theorems in more detail with special reference to group factoring. Computations are outlined as consisting of five simple matric operations. The meaning of commonfactor analysis is given in terms of the basic theorems, as well as the relationship to inverted factor theory.     

The MacQuarrie test for mechanical ability

Data originally analyzed by Charles H. Goodman on the MacQuarrie Test for Mechanical Ability are subjected to the principal axes factoring method. The maximum variance was extracted with three factors. Rotation to an oblique simple structure yielded a factor pattern which satisfies the simple structure concept more adequately than the orthogonal factor matrix, thus leading to greater clarity of interpretation of the factors.     

A method for factoring large numbers of items

The computation of intercorrelation matrices involving large numbers of variables and the subsequent factoring of these matrices present a formidable task. A method for estimating factor loadings without computing the intercorrelation matrix is developed. The estimation procedure is derived from a theoretical model which is shown to be a special case of the multiple-group centroid method of factoring. Empirical checks have indicated that the model, even though it makes some stringent assumptions, can be applied to a variety of variables found in psychological factoring problems. It has been found to be particularly useful in factoring test items.     

A Factor Analysis Of Individual Social Desirability Scale Values

The factorial structure of individual judgments of social desirability scale value (SDSV) was studied by factor analyzing a 112 (college students) by 100 (MMPI items) data matrix of individual judgments of SDSV in two ways. One analysis was factoring by item (R technique) while the second analysis was factoring by subject (Q technique). A large general SD factor appeared when subject intercorrelations were factored, but no such general factor was identified when item intercorrelations were factored. Evidence was also presented that the large general SD factor was highly correlated with mean or normative SDSVs.     

Factor Analytic Studies Of Human Brain Damage: I. First And Second-Order Factors And Their Brain Correlates

This report is concerned with identifying the first and second-order cognitive factors underlying a battery of 49 measures taken from 22 brain damage tests. The test scores from 176 brain damaged patients between 16 and 65 years of age were intercorrelated and subjected to first-order alpha factoring followed by promax rotation to oblique simple structure. Ten of the 13 first-order factors extracted were interpretable, six of them being perceptual in nature and four being of a more conceptual nature. The perceptual factors include: perceptual organization, perceptual-motor speed, pattern recognition, temporal resolution, spatial orientation, and figure-ground identification. The conceptual factors include verbal comprehension, memory, and two abstraction factors. A second-order alpha factoring was performed on the matrix of correlations among the 13 primaries. Three of the five second-order factors extracted were interpretable. They were identified as perceptual integration (subsuming the first-order factors of perceptual organization, perceptual-motor speed, and temporal resolution), verbal memory (subsuming verbal comprehension and memory), and visualization (subsuming spatial orientation and figure-ground identification). Although factor interpretations were based primarily on the patterns of high loading variables, they were also influenced by lesion effects observed in this and related studies. About half the interpretable factors are relatively localized (i.e., confined to one or two lobes of one hemisphere), with the other half more diffuse (i.e., multi-lobed, combined with laterality or bilaterality). The more localized factors include the right hemisphere factors of perceptual-motor speed, temporal resolution, and spatial orientation, and the left hemisphere factors of verbal comprehension, memory, and verbal memory. The more neurally diffuse factors include the second-order factors and such broad gauged first-order factors as abstraction I and II, and pattern recognition. Furthermore, same lobe, bilaterally hemispheric effects were rare, and only four factors (memory, verbal memory, visualization, and abstraction I) were correlated with sub-cortical lesions.     

The Factor Structure of the Personality Research Form: A Cross-National Evaluation

ABSTRACT The present research examined the generalizability of the factor structure of the Personality Research Form (PRF) across various populations. A common methodology was used for factoring 18 data bases from largely differing samples (including data from one Asian and two European countries). In accordance with previous research results, five factors were rotated in every case and compared with two target factor solutions. A mean congruence coefficient of .93 as well as similar proportions of variance explained by the factors in the various populations indicated a large amount of generalizability for that structure. An alternative but similar structure, which had been interpreted in terms of the so-called "Big Five" factors of personality, proved to be only slightly less generalizable. It was concluded that the fairly abstract constructs of both PRF factor structures are useful for describing personality in the cultures under study, leaving room for the possibility of more subtle or specific differences between the populations.     

Equivalencies regarding the measurement and constructs of self-esteem and major life events in an Asian/Pacific islander sample

Construct, scalar, and functional measurement equivalencies of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Major Life Events checklist (MLE) and the constructs assessed were investigated across groups differentiated on Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian (e.g., Caucasian, Filipino, Hispanic, Japanese, and mixed/2 or more) ethnicity and gender. Initial results from maximum likelihood factoring with promax rotation showed that RSES negatively worded Item 5 loaded with the positively worded Items 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 on 1 of 2 factors for Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian female participants. Similarly, negatively worded Item 8 and the same positively worded items comprised 1 of 2 factors for non-Hawaiian male participants. For the other 2 Ethnicity x Gender groups, factors were respectively comprised of the 5 positively and 5 negatively worded RSES items. Construct equivalence or simple (2-factor) structure underlying the RSES was indicated across the 4 groups after Items 5 and 8 were excluded from a subsequent factoring procedure. Simple structure showed that Factor 1 comprised the positively worded Items 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7, and the remaining negatively worded Items 3, 9, and 10 loaded on Factor 2. Scalar equivalence of the self-esteem and major life events measures was supported by the statistical nonsignificance of the Major Life Events x Ethnicity x Gender interaction effect in multiple regression models. The consistency in the absolute size and direction of the intercorrelations between overall self-esteem, self-esteem Factors 1 and 2, and major life events variables indicated the functional equivalence of respective measures and constructs assessed. Measurement equivalency findings concerning the RSES and MLE, the constructs measured, and their utility versus caution against their use in multiethnic studies were discussed.     

Relationships between two systems of factor analysis

Considering only population values, it is shown that the complete set of factors of a correlation matrix with units in the diagonal cells may be transformed into the factors derived by factoring these correlations with communalities in the diagonal cells. When the correlations are regarded as observed values, the common factors derived as a transformation of the complete set of factors of the correlation matrix with units in the diagonal cells satisfy Lawley's requirement for a maximum likelihood solution and are a first approximation to Rao's canonical factors.     

Separation of data as a principle in factor analysis

Two systems of factor analysis—factoring correlations with units in the diagonal cells and factoring correlations with communalities in the diagonal cells—are considered in relation to the commonly used statistical procedure of separating a set of data (scores) into two or more parts. It is shown that both systems of factor analysis imply the separation of the observed data into two orthogonal parts. The matrices used to achieve the separation differ for the two systems of factor analysis.     

The Differential Validity of Items in a Liberalism-Conservatism Test

Summary

The purpose of this study was to provide a large sample validation of the Family Attitude Measure (FAM) developed by Delhees et al. (7). The FAM was given to the parents of 250 junior high school children, and the items factored. The results of the analyses on two of the subtests were found to be interpretable and are described in detail. Few of the factors identified were as interpretable in the sense of the Delhees et al. factors, but this could be due to the fact that this study involved the factoring of items rather than the “packages” which served as variables in the Delhees article.     

ON THE VALIDITY OF THE RORSCHACH TEST

Rorschach protocols of 20 persons (normals, depressives, and schizophrenics) were analysed, using the inverted, or Q , method of factoring. Three factors emerged from the analysis and corresponded to the three psychiatric categories. Groups of items, allegedly measuring the isolated factors, were applied to a second population of 42 persons resulting in validity values of an encouraging magnitude. Finally, published protocols are cited, together with a list of discriminating items and a score matrix based on such items, so that further verification can be made by the reader.     

Field dependency: cognitive style or perceptual skill?

This study was designed to determine which information-processing elements are embodied in the Group Embedded Figures Tests as well as other representative measures of cognitive style. An alpha factoring method indicated the presence of two major factors. It was concluded that field-dependency primarily represents individual variation in perceptual preference patterns rather than the traditionally defined behavioral styles.     

The multiple factor theory in terms of common elements

With the mechanism of common elements we designed numerous sets of variates correlated with each other in a known manner and also correlated with the primary and specific factors in the same predetermined fashion. To the correlations from theoretical populations, and also from experimental samples, Thurstone's centroid method of factoring was applied. The resulting centroid co-ordinates were rotated to yield the test vectors. These vectors were close approximations to the theoretical and sample correlations.     

A revised identical elements model of arithmetic fact representation

The identical elements model of arithmetic fact representation (T. C. Rickard, A. F. Healy, & L. E. Bourne, 1994) states that, for each triplet of numbers (e.g., 4, 7, 28) that are related by complementary multiplication and division problems, there are 3 independent fact representations in memory: (4, 7, x) --> 28; (28/7) --> 4; and (28/4) --> 7. In this article, the author reviews the evidence for this model, considers alternative accounts, and proposes a simple and empirically motivated revision to the model that (a) accommodates conflicting results, (b) provides a novel account of the ties effect, and (c) makes new and nonintuitive predictions for the factoring operation (e.g., factoring of 28 into 4 and 7). The author reports 3 experiments designed to test these predictions and discusses implications for arithmetic instruction.     

Differential construct validity of a preschool battery for blacks,whites, males,and females

Seven major preschool tests were administered to a group of 322 kindergarten children. Scaled scores from the instruments were submitted to principal factoring, with iterations for the total sample and separately by race/sex groupings. The average intercorrelation of the pretests was similar across race and sex. A two-factor solution of the battery was derived for the total group and for each of the four subgroups (WF, WM, BF, BM). The two-factor solution was highly similar across race and sex, as indicated by the large coefficients of congruence obtained between factors derived within each group, thus supporting the equivalence of internal psychometric properties of the battery across race and sex. No evidence was determined to support sexual or racial dimorphism in the early structure of cognitive abilities.     

Hierarchical structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory in a large population sample: Goldberg’s trait-tier mapping procedure

The structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) is poorly understood, and applications have mostly been confined to the broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales. Using a hierarchical factoring procedure, we mapped the sequential differentiation of EPI scales from broad, molar factors to more specific, molecular factors, in a UK population sample of over 6500 persons. Replicable facets at the lowest tier of Neuroticism included oversensitivity, mood lability, nervous tension and rumination. The lowest order set of replicable Extraversion facets consisted of social dynamism, sociotropy, haste, jocularity, communalism and impulsivity. The Lie scale consisted of an interpersonal virtue and a behavioral diligence facet. Users of the EPI may be well served in some circumstances by considering its broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales as multifactorial, a feature that was explicitly incorporated into subsequent Eysenck inventories and is consistent with other hierarchical trait structures.     

A reanalysis of the higher-order factor structure of the motivation analysis test and the eight state questionnaire

In an exploratory study of the higher-order factor structure of the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) and the Eight State Questionnaire (8SQ), Boyle (1983c) obtained an 11-factor solution comprising 9 second-order MAT factors and 2 higher-order 8SQ factors. However, application of more conservative criteria regarding the size of significant factor pattern loadings, significance of derived factors, together with reinterpretation of the appropriate Scree ‘break’, suggest that in Boyle's earlier analysis 2 factors too many were extracted. Recalculation of the factor pattern for the MAT (using 8SQ data as ‘hyperplane stuff’) supports the view that 7 rather than 9 second-order MAT factors were appropriate. A separate dR-factoring of the intercorrelations of the subscale difference scores indicated 3 higher-order 8SQ factors, indicative of change dimensions, and not 2 factors as found in the static single-occasion combined factoring of both the MAT and 8SQ data.