Comparison of the WISC and WISC-R on a psychiatric adolescent inpatient sample

The present study compared the WISC and WISC-R on a group of psychiatric adolescent inpatients. The results indicated high intercorrelations between the two test versions but with the correlations linearly related to the changes in content and administration rules of the WISC-R. Analyses of variance indicated that, on the basis of the Full Scale IQ, the WISC is an easier test than the WISC-R.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Kathleen Lennox for her aid in data analysis and computer programming.     

EEG “maturational lag” profiles: Follow-up analyses

Nineteen children who had EEG diffuse slow frequency profiles suggesting a maturational lag were retested 1 to 2 years later receiving both EEG and psychometric assessments. They were compared to 18 children who also had been tested previously but did not have the slow frequency profile. Children with the maturational lag profile displayed varying degrees of EEG developmental change upon retest;i.e., some showed the expected developmental change while others remained the same. Within this group, there were significant relationships between the degree of EEG change and psychometric scores. Those that demonstrated the most EEG change had higher psychometric indices, and these relationships were not obtained in the comparison group. These findings suggest developmental heterogeneity with respect to brian maturation as measured by the EEG and also suggest that test-retest EEG data can clarify a maturational lag diagnosis.This work was supported by grants awarded to W. C Corning by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council. The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance and support of J. Washburn, M. Staines, A. Goebel, Lyle MacDonald, and the staff of the psychology department, University of Waterloo.     

The effect of a commercial game on children's block design scores on the WISC-R IQ test

Two experiments investigated the extent to which 10-year old children's scores on the WISC-R Block Design subtest were affected by prior experience with a specific commercial game that involved blocks and matching patterns. Experiment 1 found that 12 10-year old children who happened to have experience with the particular commercial game scored approximately three scaled score points higher on the WISC-R Block Design subtest than 24 matched children without game experience. In Experiment 2, 24 children who did not have prior experience with this particular commercial game were randomly assigned either to a Game condition (involving two 15-minute sessions with the game) or to a No-Game condition (which involved no further game experience). Children in the Game condition subsequently increased their WISC-R Block Design scores more than children in the No-Game condition. Taken together, the experiments indicate that relatively brief interactions with a commercial game can cause a significant improvement in children's performance on an IQ subtest.     

Reliability and predictive validity of the WISC-R with native-American Navajos

The reliability and predictive validity of the WISC-R was examined with a sample of 40 Navajo children. Internal consistency reliability estimates of WISC-R subtests as well as composites were found to be low for the Navajo subjects as compared with the reliability coefficients reported in the WISC-R manual. Correlation coefficients between the WISC-R subtests and those of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) were low. Only the Block Design subtest correlated significantly with the WRAT-Spelling. The predictive validity of the WISC-R IQ scales was similarly found to be very low. Considering the nature and size of sample, cautions in generalizing these findings to other native-American populations are recommended.     

Aspects of verbal processing in relation to perceptual disembedding ability

In this study an attempt was made to extend the notion of disembedding from the perceptual to the verbal semantic domain. Fifty-two undergraduates were presented with the Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) and with seven verbal tasks. A Factor analysis made on test scores, as well as other factors, evidenced a factor that linked to gether the GEFT and one of the verbal tasks (Word groups). It is argued that both tasks require the restructuring of an organized context according to new given rules, and that disembedding is a mental operation which applies to both verbal and perceptual domains.     

Wechsler Digit Span subtest: diagnostic usefulness with dyslexic children

The current study supports Levinson's contention (1988) that the diagnosis of dyslexia cannot be based solely on neurophysiological evidence but must be made in conjunction with reading and educational test scores. Contrary to much current research, in the present study specific WISC-R profiles are identified within a stringently defined subgroup of 57 9- to 12-yr-old dyslexic children. Well-defined subtest scatter can differentiate dyslexics from proficient readers. In particular, the Digit Span subtest, which is not routinely administered by psychologists or included in computing Verbal IQ, can be considered an important component of a diagnostic battery. Unexpectedly, Coding emerged with Digit Span as a third factor in a principal component analysis; statistically significant sex differences appeared on the Coding task. Findings appear to confirm the phonological encoding deficiencies displayed by dyslexics on the Digit Span subtest. This study strongly supports consideration of WISC-R subtest differences, along with correlated factors, neurophysiological and perceptual evidence, when diagnosing dyslexic children. Cross-validation is planned.     

Chinese sex differences in intelligence: Some new evidence

Sex differences on the WISC-R in Chinese children were examined in a sample of 788 aged 12 years. Boys obtained a higher mean full scale IQ than girls of 3.75 IQ points, a higher performance IQ of 4.20 IQ points, and a higher verbal IQ of 2.40 IQ points. Boys obtained significantly higher means on the information, picture arrangement, picture completion, block design, and object assembly subtests, while girls obtained a significantly higher mean on coding. The results were in general similar to the sex differences in the United States standardisation sample of the WISC-R. Boys showed greater variability than girls.     

Race, social class and ability patterns on the WISC-R

The national standardization sample of whites and blacks on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R) was the basis for a detailed analysis of the psychometric nature of racial and social class differences on the original 13 subscales of the WISC-R. The profiles of subtest scores of whites and blacks were compared directly and also after the racial groups were statistically equated on Full Scale IQ (FSIQ). Under the latter condition, the races differ only very slightly, although significantly, on some of the subtests, in ways generally contrary to popular expectations. The profile of white-black differences on the WISC-R subtests is markedly different, and negatively correlated with, the profiles of social class differences within each racial group, indicating that the pattern of racial differences is not explainable in terms of the difference in the average socio-economic status (SES) of blacks and whites. A Schmid-Leiman orthogonalized hierarchical factor analysis yields virtually identical factor structures and highly congruent factor loadings on the subtests for whites and blacks. Analysis of factor scores shows that by far the largest proportion of the variance between races is attributable to the general factor (g) common to all the subtests, whereas the group factors (verbal, performance and memory) contribute only minutely to the interracial variance. Hence the white-black differences on the diverse subtests of the WISC-R, and in the Full Scale IQ, are interpreted primarily as a difference in Spearman's g, rather than as differences in the more specific factors peculiar to particular content, knowledge, acquired skills or type of test. However, some slight but significant differences in patterns of ability also occur that are independent of g.     

A group ministry in the inner city

Conclusion The Group Ministry approach is an attempt at one way of facing the need for renewal of the Church in its understanding of the means of Christian commitment and witness in the world. There are many dangers in a Group Ministry. It runs the risk of becoming apower block or separation of men and women from their primary responsibility in the local church; of facingemotional strain on those who must work closely together in a group of sinners; of developing apsychic dependence on each other rather than looking to Christ as the primary source of support and unity; of becomingless efficient when more workers are placed in one small area; oflacking a sense of direction because one leader is not given responsibility and authority.Yet the Group Ministry approach takes these risks in the knowledge that the Church must work to fashion patterns by which it may again express itself with power in places where the word is scarce.For further information about the East Harlem Protestant Parish, readers may write directly to 2050 Second Avenue, New York 29, N. Y.     

Sentence processing: Evidence against the serial,independent stage assumption

The assumption that the processing stages involved in sentence comprehension are serially and independently executed was tested in two separate experiments using two new sentence types. One experiment was a sentence-picture verification task, the other was not. In Experiment I, subjects viewed sentences such as It's false that the dots are red and indicated, by pressing the appropriate response key, which of two colors would make the sentence true. In Experiment II, subjects verified sentences such as It isn't true that the dots aren't red against pictures of colored dots. On the strength of Sternberg's additive factor method, present findings challenge the validity of the serial, independent stage assumption, and results are alternatively discussed in terms of a capacity sharing model.This research was supported by PHS research grant MH 23401 to Sam Glucksberg, principal investigator.     

Analysis of the piat with Anglo and Mexican-American children

This study analyzed the utility of the PIAT when administered to separate samples of Anglo and Mexican-American children using the WRAT and WISC-R as comparative measures. Thirty-one Mexican-American and 31 Anglo-American children were matched on the basis of sex, age, SES, educational placement, and reason referred for psychological assessment. All children were administered the PIAT, WRAT, and WISC-R. Partial intercorrelations (CA held constant) among the PIAT subtest raw scores and subtests of the WRAT purporting to measure the same construct were performed. Adequate concurrent validity was found for the PIAT Mathematics, Spelling, and Reading Recognition subtests for both Anglo and Mexican-American children. Analysis of subtest means and concurrent validity between ethnic groups showed general equivalence with the exception of WISC-R Verbal IQ means, which was significantly lower for the Mexican-American group. Implications for assessing Mexican-American children are discussed.     

The factorial similarity of the WISC-R performance Scale in deaf and hearing samples

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R) Performance Scale metrics and subtest factor loadings, derived separately from deaf (N = 1228) and hearing (N = 2200) samples, are practically identical. Small mean differences are probably attributable to the higher incidence of brain damage among deaf children. In addition to demonstrating the absence of construct bias in WISC-R Performance IQ (PIQ) measurement for deaf children, the results contradict theories which propose linguistic bias as the cause of the white-black difference in Performance IQ. Spearman's hypothesis that white-black mental test differences are primarily a difference in g received significant support. The results indicate that cognition, as measured by PIQ, is virtually independent of language acquisition.     

III. WISC-R scatter indices: Useful information for differential diagnosis?

This study analyzed the WISC-R verbal-performance, full scale IQ, verbal IQ, and performance IQ scatter indices of 101 verified special education students. The results indicated that none of these measures discriminated among emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, minimally brain injured, and educable mentally retarded children. These scatter indices were also compared with analogous data collected from a nationwide, representative sample of normal children (Kaufman, 1976a, 1976b). Statistically significant differences were obtained between the two groups on verbal-performance, full scale IQ, and performance IQ scatter dimensions. Further analyses revealed, however, that 40% of the normal children exhibited as much or more scatter than the average special education student on each of these three scatter indices. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the verbal IQ scatter index. The results are discussed in terms of the limited utility of WISC-R scatter indices for the purpose of differential diagnosis.     

Ego development and intelligence in a psychiatric population: Wechsler subtest scores

The relationship between Loevinger's measure of ego development and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales subtest scores was investigated in 91 adolescent and young adult psychiatric inpatients. Correlations with Verbal IQ and verbal subtests in general were positive and significant. The correlation with the Comprehension subtest was the highest and remained significant when Full Scale IQ was partialled. Post-conformists obtained the highest mean scores on Picture Arrangement; however, there was no difference among the lower stages on this subtest. The results lend support to a social reasoning component of ego development.     

Signal Detection Analysis of Choice Behavior and Aging

The primary research question was whether older adults respond to the contingencies of reinforcement such that they allocate their behavior as predicted by the reinforcement contingencies and discriminative stimuli programmed by the experimenters. Six subjects, ranging in age from 62 to 74 years, participated in 15 experimental sessions. Subjects were instructed to press the F1 key when they saw a white circle, and to press the F12 key when they saw a red letter A. Responses on the F1 key were reinforced on a variable interval (VI) 30-s schedule (i.e., a VI schedule of reinforcement with 11 arithmetically spaced intervals with a mean of 30 s); F12 key responses were reinforced on a VI 60-s schedule (i.e., a VI schedule of reinforcement with 11 arithmetically spaced intervals with a mean of 60 s). Reinforcers included monetary units (10 cents) and verbal praise. Results indicated positive effects of stimulus control of behavior. Collective false alarms and miss rates represented only 0.05% of the total responses. Also, two thirds of the subjects allocated behavior consistent with the second hypothesis that a denser reinforcement schedule (i.e., the VI 30-s) would cause subjects to respond more quickly to this condition. Implications of the present results for clinical studies of Alzheimer's Disease and dementia, as well as behavior modification strategies with aging individuals, are discussed.     

Use of techniques promoting students' self-determination: Effects on students' analytic problem-solving skills

Based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1987, 1991), we assessed the effect of controlling strategies and restricted choice options on students' performance on analytic reason problems. Subjects in the controlling-directives condition were told by their teacher that a given strategy was the way students should solve a set of analytical problems. Although subjects in the noncontrolling-directives condition were taught the same strategy, they were encouraged to use any strategy they chose to solve the identical problems. The results indicated, as predicted, that subjects in the controlling-directives condition performed significantly worse than subjects in the noncontrolling-directives condition on a subsequent set of analytic reasoning problems, when tested by an experimenter who was unaware of a subject's condition. Interestingly, subjects in the controlling-directives condition regarded the teacher as qualitatively more competent than noncontrolling-directives subjects, in spite of their poorer performance. Furthermore, feelings about the task, mood differences, or perceptions of performance as a function of condition did not account for these findings. The data are discussed as they relate to the theoretical and practical import of the deleterious use of controlling techniques in a number of contexts, as well as adults' erroneous beliefs about controlling strategies.This study was funded in part from a grant from the Spencer Foundation and an NIMH grant to the first author.     

Four tables for the statistical interpretation of factor scores on the Wechsler intelligence scale for children—Revised (WISC-R)

When the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Revised (WISC-R) is analyzed into three factors (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, and Freedom From Distractibility), the clinician has the choice of expressing each factor as either a deviation quotient (an IQ analog) or a factor score (the arithmetic mean of the constituent subtests). For the clinician who wishes to use factor scores instead of deviation quotients, four tables are presented that provide (1) the percentile equivalents of factor scores; (2) the significance of differences between factor scores; (3) the frequency with which specified discrepancies occur; and (4) the significance of differences between a factor score and the scaled score of a constituent subtest.     

Competence and the overjustification effect

The overjustification effect is manifested in decreased interest in an activity as a result of having been rewarded for participation in the activity. According to attribution theory's discounting principle, decreased interest occurs because the subject discounts the role of intrinsic motivation when a salient extrinsic reward is present. An alternative analysis based on the competence principle suggests that only rewards that convey no message of competence foster the overjustification effect, while manipulations that do convey competence information do not. A study crossing Reward (no reward-monetary reward) and Task Difficulty (hard-easy) supported the competence analysis. Subjects who succeeded on the hard task and thus felt competent manifested higher subsequent interest in the task. Consistent with the competence analysis, presence or absence of reward did not influence subsequent interest in the task.This research has been supported by a grant from the Ohio University Research Fund. I am grateful to Mark Henault, who served very ably as the experimenter. The hard work of Joel Ghitman and Craig Alexander is also gratefully acknowledged.     

Predictive validity of the WISC-R with Mexican-American children

The reliability and predictive validity of the WISC-R was investigated with 46 Mexican-American children. Approximately a year and a half after the administration of the WISC-R, scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) were collected. Internal consistency estimates for WISC-R subtests and composites were found to be comparable to those reported in the WISC-R manual. Correlations between WISC-R subtests and those of the ITBS ranged from modest for verbal subtests to mild when performance subtests were used as predictors. The best single predictor proved to be that of Verbal IQ, which accounted for some 40% of the variance in future achievement when measured by the ITBS. It was concluded that the WISC-R meets minimum requirements of reliability and predictive validity with Mexican-American children.     

Coreference processing and levels of analysis in object-relative constructions; Demonstration of antecedent reactivation with the cross-modal priming paradigm

This paper is concerned with two related issues in sentence processing-one methodological and one theoretical. Methodologically, it provides an unconfounded test of the ability of the cross-modal lexical priming task, when used appropriately, to provide detailed evidence about the time-course of antecedent reactivation during sentence processing. Theoretically, it provides a study of the nature of the representation that is examined when a reference-seeking element is linked to its antecedent during the processing of object-relative clause constructions. In these studies, subjects heard sentences which contained a lexical ambiguity placed in a strong biasing context. In one study this ambiguous word was the moved or fronted object of the verb in an object-relative construction. A cross-modal lexical priming (CMLP) naming task was used to determine whether one or more of the meanings of the ambiguity are activated at three temporally distinct points during the sentence: (1) immediately after the lexical ambiguity (Study 1); (2) a later point that was 700 milliseconds before the offset of the main verb (Study 2); (3) immediately after this main verb (at the gap in this filler-gap construction) (Study 2). The probes in the CMLP task were controlled for potential confounds. The results demonstrate the following: At Test Point 1, all meanings of the ambiguity were activated; at Test Point 2, neither meaning of the ambiguity was (still) activated; at Test Point 3, only a single (context-relevant) meaning of the ambiguity was reactivated. It is concluded that an underlying (deep; non-surface-level) memorial representation of the sentence is examined during the process of linking an antecedent to a structural position requiring a referent, and that the CMLP task provides an unbiased measure of this reactivation. Further, it is concluded that this effect cannot be accounted for under a compound cue (Ratcliff & McKoon, 1994) explanation.The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of an anonymous reviewer for helpful suggestions and changes in this paper, and the support of a fellowship to the first author from grant T32 DC 00041 and NIH grant ROI DC00494 (to the second author) for this work.