Cognitive Style and Visual Analysis in First Graders of High and Low Verbal Ability

Abstract

100 first graders were screened for verbal ability and subdivided into high and low quartiles with 25 children in each group. Field independence, visual analysis, and spatial visualization of these groups was investigated and their social communication skills were assessed. Since small age differences were observed on a number of the tasks, age was controlled as a covariate. As predicted, those of high verbal ability modified response latency under task uncertainty, performed better in spatial analysis, and showed greater social resourcefulness. They were more accurate in discrimination of similarities but did not differ from those of low verbal ability in accuracy on the Children's Embedded Figures test or in discrimination of differences. Intertask relationships and the influence of sex and age on performance were discussed.