Comparison of Cognitive Process Measures Across Three Cultural Samples: Some Surprises

Investigations of cognitive processes of children in three different countries (India, Canada, & Japan) are reported extending the validity of measures of Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing. Results of average and low achieving school children in India on Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) comprising the four PASS scales showed that low achievers are low on all processing measures. Among Canadian Native children, Simultaneous processing was stronger and Successive was poorer. Children’s performance on Japanese standardization of CAS revealed the same 4 PASS factor structures as in the American CAS. However, in each case, there was a surprise: Indian children scored higher than American norm for Successive scale; only those Canadian Native children who were poor in reading performed poorly in Successive scale, and among the Japanese, Simultaneous processing was higher. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of cultural context and school instructions.