Direct assessment of the cognitive correlates of attention deficit disorders with and without hyperactivity

The cognitive functioning of children identified as attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD/H) was compared to that of children identified as attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD/WO). Based on information on symptoms supplied by teachers, 20 ADD/H and 15 ADD/ WO children were selected according to DSM-III criteria from a large elementaryschool learning disabilities and behavior disorders population. For comparison purposes, 16 normal children from regular classrooms were also selected. Children from all three groups were evaluated with a battery of cognitive tests. Intelligence test scores differentiated the two ADD groups, with the ADD/H children obtaining significantly lower Full Scale IQ scores than both ADD/WO and control children. In addition, ADD/H children obtained significantly lower Verbal IQ scores than ADD/WO children. Both ADD groups performed more poorly than controls on Spelling and Reading Achievement, and the ADD/WO group performed more poorly on Math Achievement. The two ADD groups took longer to complete six Stroop and rapid naming tasks than the control groups but did not differ among themselves. The ADD/WO group made more errors on a visual matching task than the controls, but neither ADD group differed from controls on the accuracy of the Stroop tasks, rapid naming tasks, measures of receptive and expressive language, visual-motor integration, or sustained visual attention. The differences between the two ADD groups were fewer than expected on the basis of previous research and are more global than specific.The assistance of John Junginger, Jason Walker, and Cynthia Jones at various stages of the project is gratefully acknowledged. Particular thanks are extended to the teachers and staff of Clarke County schools.     

Birth weight, Apgar scores, labor and delivery complications and prenatal characteristics of Southeast Asian adolescents and older mothers

The study population included 337 adolescents and 876 mothers who delivered live-born, singleton infants in the Maternity and Infant Care Program at the Minneapolis Health Department between 1980-1982. Whites and blacks on the average experienced menarche 1-2 years earlier than the Southeast Asians although age of first pregnancy was 2 years later for the Southeast Asians. In spite of the significantly later ages of entry into prenatal care, lower weight gains, and hematocrits among the Southeast Asians, compared to the white and black populations, overall height-weight status on admission compared favorably with whites and blacks. The virtual absence of alcohol and tobacco consumption among the Southeast Asians may in fact contribute to the generally favorable Apgar scores, length of gestation, and birth weights. The high frequencies of alcohol and tobacco consumption among white adolescents during pregnancy suggest the need for more intervention to discourage smoking in this population. Further, the potential adoption of these substances needs to be discouraged among the Southeast Asian adolescents. While 2-4% of the whites, blacks and Hmong adolescents experienced eclampsia, 1% of the older Hmong mothers and none of the other Southeast Asians experienced eclampsia. The most frequent complication for all groups was perineal laceration.     

Group therapy with sexually abused boys: leadership, projective identification, and countertransference issues

Group therapy is an essential component of the treatment of sexually abused children. Since the painful effects associated with the abuse are often dissociated or acted out, the group leaders learn of the affective experience of the abuse through the process of projective identification. The leaders must be aware of this process, set limits on the abusive acting out in the group, and help moderate, label, and empathize with the affect. It is through this difficult process that the children have a chance to reintegrate and work through their abuse experiences so they no longer feel compelled to act them out through repetitive abusive relationships. Specific leadership, countertransference, and projective identification issues in group therapy with sexually abused boys are discussed.     

The place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities

Studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities. An investigation is described in which measures of social behaviors obtained from interviews were related to a wide variety of cognitive variables. Significant relations were rare. It is suggested that the question to be posed is not the simple one of the place of social intelligence in the cognitive domain but rather one of the relationships of the elements of two large taxonomic systems. A Taxonomy of social intelligence would provide a set of definitions procedures that would improve efforts to replicate and build on previous research. More important would be the heuristic value of a structural representation of “social intelligence” based on theoretical relationships involving environmental, physiological, and genetic as well as psychological factors. Development of a taxonomy of situations would facilitate the study of interactions involving performance and environmental conditions.     

A comparison of the Ponzo illusion with a textural analogue

The inappropriate constancy scaling notion of geometric illusions was explored by employing a textural analogue of the Ponzo figure. Ten Ss estimated the length of a horizontal line by equating it with varying companion lines in the context of the Ponzo figure, a textural analogue, and a baseline control in which the lines appeared with no surrounding contours. The textural analogue had the added feature of imposing no contours at the ends of the horizontal lines. It was found that length estimates were significantly different between the horizontals of the Ponzo figure and control stimuli, but not between the texture figure and a context-free control. The results suggest that inappropriate constancy scaling plays a minor role at best in the perception of geometric illusions.