Analogical reasoning ability in autistic and typically developing children

Recent studies (e.g. Dawson et al., 2007 ) have reported that autistic people perform in the normal range on the Raven Progressive Matrices test, a formal reasoning test that requires integration of relations as well as the ability to infer rules and form high‐level abstractions. Here we compared autistic and typically developing children, matched on age, IQ, and verbal and non‐verbal working memory, using both the Raven test and pictorial tests of analogical reasoning. Whereas the Raven test requires only formal analogical reasoning, the other analogy tests require use of real‐world knowledge, as well as inhibition of salient distractors. We found that autistic children performed as well as controls on all these tests of reasoning with relations. Our findings indicate that the basic ability to reason systematically with relations, for both abstract and thematic materials, is intact in autism.     

Recreating Raven’s: Software for systematically generating large numbers of Raven-like matrix problems with normed properties

Raven’s Progressive Matrices is a widely used test for assessing intelligence and reasoning ability (Raven, Court, & Raven, 1998). Since the test is nonverbal, it can be applied to many different populations and has been used all over the world (Court & Raven, 1995). However, relatively few matrices are in the sets developed by Raven, which limits their use in experiments requiring large numbers of stimuli. For the present study, we analyzed the types of relations that appear in Raven’s original Standard Progressive Matrices (SPMs) and created a software tool that can combine the same types of relations according to parameters chosen by the experimenter, to produce very large numbers of matrix problems with specific properties. We then conducted a norming study in which the matrices we generated were compared with the actual SPMs. This study showed that the generated matrices both covered and expanded on the range of problem difficulties provided by the SPMs.     

4PLRT模型与3PLRT模型在瑞文标准推理测验中的比较研究

研究目的：考察反应时与智力的关系以及通过模型对比考察4PLRT模型特性。方法：以瑞文标准推理测验为例,对4PLRT模型与3PLRT模型作比较研究。结论：（1）项目时间参数与难度参数正相关,可以依据时间参数将瑞文标准测验划分成三大部分。（2）能力估计结果比较：由于项目参数和被试速度参数的作用,CTT条件下能力相等的不同被试在计时与非计时条件下存在差异。（3）关于被试的答题策略：被试会基于自身能力而充分权衡时间与准确性的关系。这两种不同模型下被试的能力值之间的比较也说明了时间是一个重要的智力评估因子。     

The effects of dynamic assessment procedures on Raven Matrices performance,visual search behavior,test anxiety and test orientation

The effects of dynamic testing procedures on Raven Coloured Matrices performance, visual scanning procedures, test anxiety, and orientation to the test situation were assessed. The subjects were 72 third-grade children. The results supported the hypotheses of the study showing that (1) dynamic assessment procedures involving either verbalization or elaborated feedback lead to higher levels of Raven Matrices performance; that (2) dynamic assessment modifies visual search behaviors; and that (3) dynamic assessment reduces test anxiety and negative orientation to the testing situation. The results are interpreted as offering construct validation to the assessment approaches used.     

A comparative study of general intelligence in Spanish and Moroccan samples

The aim of this study is to fill a gap in intelligence research by presenting data for the average IQ in Morocco and for a comparable sample in Spain. Adult samples were administered the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) (Raven, Court, & Raven, 2001) and scored for the total test and for the three sub-factors of gestalt continuation, verbal-analytical reasoning and visuospatial ability identified by Lynn, Allik, and Irwing (2004). The total test and the three factors have shown satisfactory reliability. Our results for the Moroccan sample show significant relationship between general intelligence factor, gestalt continuation and visuospatial ability with education level and income. Conversely, these variables have been shown to be independent for the Spanish sample. This sample obtained significantly higher scores for the four factors assessed than the Moroccan one. These differences have been found also comparing samples with the same education levels. Finally, the errors percentage for Moroccans has been higher than for Spaniards in all the items, suggesting that the level of difficulty was higher for the Moroccan sample.     

The gender difference on the Mental Rotations test is not due to performance factors

Men score higher than women on the Mental Rotations test (MRT), and the magnitude of this gender difference is the largest of that on any spatial test. Goldstein, Haldane, and Mitchell (1990) reported finding that the gender difference on the MRT disappears when “performance factors” are controlled— specifically, when subjects are allowed sufficient time to attempt all items on the test or when a scoring procedure that controls for the number of items attempted is used. The present experiment also explored whether eliminating these performance factors results in a disappearance of the gender difference on the test. Male and female college students were allowed a short time period or unlimited time on the MRT. The tests were scored according to three different procedures. The results showed no evidence that the gender difference on the MRT was affected by the scoring method or the time limit. Regardless of the scoring procedure, men scored higher than women, and the magnitude of the gender difference persisted undiminished when subjects completed all items on the test. Thus there was no evidence that performance factors produced the gender difference on the MRT. These results are consistent with the results of other investigators who have attempted to replicate Goldstein et al. ’s findings.     

Stereotype threat undermines intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load

Research on stereotype threat has repeatedly demonstrated that the intellectual performance of social groups is particularly sensitive to the situational context in which tests are usually administered. In the present experiment, an adaptation of the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test was introduced as a measure of cognitive ability. Results showed that individuals targeted by a reputation of intellectual inferiority scored lower on the test than did other people. However, when the identical test was not presented as a measure of cognitive ability, the achievement gap between the target and the control group disappeared. Using heart rate variability indices to assess mental workload, our findings showed that the situational salience of a reputation of lower ability undermined intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load. Our results indicate that group differences in cognitive ability scores can reflect different situational burdens and not necessarily actual differences in cognitive ability.     

Evaluation algorithm for eye movement patterns during a problem solving task]

Cognitive processes are accompanied by eye movements, which are interrupted by fixations of an almost infinite number of points in the visual field. To investigate these processes, a systematic analysis of those movements is required to structure the long sequences of fixations. This task is possible if there are interrelationships between the ongoing thought processes and the fixations. Such interrelationships may manifest themselves through certain patterns of eye movements. It often happens that subsets of visual points are being looked at repeatedly. This is because a cognitive connection among the subset's elements is being discovered or created by such repetition. The method presented here attempts to achieve automatic recognition of fixation point patterns. Its usefulness is demonstrated using data from an experiment where eye movements were recorded while subjects were solving Raven Test items. The method may be characterized as a variant of time series analysis for nominal data. It is suitable for non-numerical data in general.     

Limits of the processing view in accounting for dissociations among memory measures in a clinical population

In three experiments, we examined the performance of patients with schizophrenia on implicit and explicit memory tests that have been shown to involve predominantly data-driven or predominantly conceptually driven processes. In Experiment 1, we compared the implicit tests of category production (conceptually driven)and word identification (data driven) and found that schizophrenic patients’ performance on these tests did not differ from that of normal subjects. In Experiment 2, a comparison of the category-production and explicit cued-recall tests, both of which involve conceptual processes, showed that schizophrenic patients were impaired on the cued-recall test but not on the category-production test. In Experiment 3, a comparison of the word-identification and explicit graphemic cued-recall tests, both of which involve data-driven processes, showed that patients were impaired on the cued-recall test but not on the word-identification test. The results of both Experiments 2 and 3 revealed a dissociation between implicit and explicit test performance under conditions in which the two tests involve similar- types of processes. These results support theoretical views that distinguish implicit from explicit modes of retrieval.     

应用项目反应理论创建图形推理测验题库

自编235个图形推理测验题目。采用铆测验等值设计,以72个联合型瑞文测验题目为铆题,对初中到大学各能力层次的1733名男性进行了测验。使用BILOG MG3.0（边际极大似然估计）对实测数据进行了分析,采用Logsitic 3参数模型。剔除数据与模型拟合不好的题目以及信息函数最大值小于0.3的题目,最终建立一个包含181道题目的题库。该题库可以用于淘汰智力较低的应征青年     

Toward a differential testing approach: Testing-the-limits employing the Raven matrices

Various testing-the-limits procedures were employed in administering the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices Test to 203 second grade and 230 fourth grade children. Tests of impulsivity, neuroticism, extroversion, intelligence and school achievement were also given. The main results showed that testing-the-limits procedures which involved verbalization and feedback were efficacious in maximizing performance on the Raven. The puzzle form of the test generally led to higher scores than the picture version for the second but not fourth graders. Differential analyses were carried out to establish how construct, concurrent and predictive validity of the Raven were affected by the salient testing-the-limits procedures involved. Analysis was also done with the personality variables and revealed how their effect interacted with various test administration procedures. The results were discussed in theoretical and practical terms.     

Stereotype Threat Effects on the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Scores of African Americans1

The present experiment examined stereotype threat effects on the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices (Raven) scores of African Americans. Support was found for Hypothesis 1, which stated that African Americans would experience significantly greater stereotype threat than Whites during an IQ testing situation. Hypothesis 2 proposed that a significant Race x Test Diagnosticity Condition interaction would occur in which the mean difference in intelligence test scores between African Americans and Whites (favoring the latter group) would be largest when the test was framed as a measure of intelligence, and smaller when framed as nonindicative of intelligence. Limited support for Hypothesis 2 was found in that a marginally significant Race x Test Diagnosticity Condition interaction was obtained. However, the interaction failed to reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Although preliminary, the present findings provide some support for the notion that stereotype threat compromises the intelligence test performance of African Americans.     

Dynamic Testing in Selection for an Educational Programme: Assessing South African Performance on the Raven Progressive Matrices

This article describes the research results of an investigation into the use of dynamic testing for the selection of candidates for an educational programme. The selection of students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds for mathematics‐, science‐, and technology‐based programmes is a problem for which most South African higher education institutions still have to find adequate solutions. Dynamic testing procedures are often seen as more fair to use for selection than single‐session tests in situations of unequal educational opportunity. The possibility that a selection instrument using a dynamic testing process could add significantly to the selection effectiveness already achieved in a South African mathematics and science foundation year using single‐session tests was investigated. The performance of a group of educationally disadvantaged black South African students on the Raven Progressive Matrices is compared to that of other groups reported in research literature. Considering the disadvantaged nature of the South African group, the group performed well on the Raven test when compared with data from other countries.     

Effects of the benzodiazepine lorazepam on monitoring and control processes in semantic memory

Lorazepam has been repeatedly shown to induce memory impairments. The effects of this benzodiazepine on the processes involved in the strategic regulation of memory accuracy have not as yet been explored. An experimental procedure that delineates the role of monitoring and control processes was used. Fifteen lorazepam and 15 placebo subjects were examined using a semantic memory task that combined both a forced- and a free-report option and a no-incentive and an incentive condition. Memory accuracy was lower in the lorazepam than in the placebo group. Lorazepam impaired control sensitivity (the extent to which volunteering of answers is affected by the confidence judgments). While the absolute aspect of monitoring was impaired (calibration scores), both the discriminative aspect (the ability to distinguish between correct and incorrect answers) and the response criterion setting (the confidence threshold set for volunteering a report) were spared. The pharmacological dissociation between monitoring effectiveness and control sensitivity indicates that these two components involve distinct processes.     

Psychometric Evaluation of an Alternate Scoring for the Remote Associates Test

The Remote Associates Test (RAT; Mednick, 1962; Mednick & Mednick, 1967) is a commonly employed test of creative convergent thinking. The RAT is scored with a dichotomous scoring, scoring correct answers as 1 and all other answers as 0. Based on recent research into the information processing underlying RAT performance, we argued that the dichotomous scoring may lead to a loss of potentially relevant information. Thus, we proposed an alternate scoring based on semantic similarity between the answer given by the participant and the correct solution using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA; Landauer & Dumais, 1997). We evaluate the psychometric properties of the alternate LSA scoring and found evidence of construct validity for the LSA scoring which was comparable to findings for the standard scoring, but not better as we would have expected. Thus, our expectations that LSA-based scoring of the RAT counteracts potential information loss were not met. However, LSA based scorings appear to be a promising alternative for hardly solvable RAT items. We conducted additional analyses comparing different RAT item types with regard to their validity as well as evaluating the information uniquely contained in the LSA scoring. Implications of all finding for existing research using RAT items are discussed.     

Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.     

Predicting and postdicting the effects of word frequency on memory

In the experiments reported here, I replicate and extend recent results that reveal that judgments about the memorability of common and uncommon words differ qualitatively depending on whether they are made during study or elicited during a recognition test (Guttentag & Carroll, 1998). When assessing recognition ability for individual words, subjects predict superior performance for common words, but postdict better performance for uncommon words. This interaction suggests that subjects rely on different cues when making judgments during study than they do when making analogous judgments during the recognition test, and that the cues utilized during recognition lead judgments to be more accurate. The shift is then evident in later predictions Subjects who make postdictions consequently correctly predict superior recognition performance for uncommon words on a subsequent study list. When subjects are asked to make later predictions about recall performance, however, having made postdictions on a test of recognition does not mislead subjects into predicting superior recall performance for uncommon words.     

离线元认知调节的结构探索与验证

离线元认知调节指脱离具体任务情境后,个体在整体层面对自身活动的规划、管理、归纳反省并重新评价的过程。与在线元认知调节相结合,可以使元认知对行为的调节作用得到更加完整有力地发挥。本研究探索了离线元认知调节的测量学结构,开发出相应的测量工具,并且在职业测评领域通过实践检验。研究一编制离线调节量表,对离线元认知调节结构进行探索,得到全局规划、洞察力和整合概化三个维度;研究二对工具的效度进行实证检验,通过层次Logistic回归分析,发现公司中层领导与普通员工在离线调节水平上存在差异,验证了该工具的实证效度。研究结果证明离线调节量表具有较好的心理测量学品质,可以应用于相关的实践领域。     

Assessing inhibitory control in early-stage Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease using the Hayling Sentence Completion Test

The ability to inhibit irrelevant information is essential for coping with the demands of everyday life. Inhibitory deficits are present in all stages of dementia and commonly observed in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Inhibition is frequently tested with the Stroop test, but this may lack ecological validity. This study investigates inhibitory control in people with Alzheimer's disease dementia (PwD) and PwPD using the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT), which aspires to be a more ecologically valid task. A total of 117 people completed the HSCT, a test where participants have to complete a sentence with an unrelated word. The sample comprised 30 PwD, 33 PwPD, and 54 healthy older controls. We compared response times and the number and type of errors across the three groups. Completion time in Part B (Inhibition) did not distinguish between PwD, PwPD, and controls when controlling for the initiation speed, but a higher proportion of Category A errors (producing a word that fits the sentence when instructed otherwise) was a unique characteristic of inferior performance in PwD and PwPD. While not part of the standard test scoring protocol, controlling for the initiation speed and distinguishing between speed and accuracy in test performance appear to be essential for accurate evaluation of the inhibitory control in HSCT in older people. The findings suggest that the HSCT may be sensitive to verbal suppression deficits and may provide insight into inhibitory control in PwD and PwPD.     

Achievement motivation and problem solving

Abstract.— The relationships between achievement motivation and problem solving were discussed. It was suggested that problem solving may be differentially related to achievement motivation in high and low ability groups. In a group of 46 male students, scoring high on a test of intellectual flexibility, a positive relationship was found between a projective measure of fear of failure and solution of the Hatrack Problem. In a group of 49 male subjects with low flexibility scores, fear of failure was negatively related to problem solving. The results were taken to indicate that the ability measure represented general self confidence and expectancy. Thus subjects with high self confidence might attempt to avoid failure by trying hard to succeed, while a more probable strategy for subjects with low expectancy would be to exert little effort. A test of this hypothesis was made by analyzing a measure of overt activity in the Hatrack situation across high/low motivational and ability groups. Whereas in the high ability group subjects with high fear of failure showed a high level of activity, high fear of failure subjects in the low ability group showed a low level of activity, thus supporting the hypothesis.