Validating a cognitive ability testing protocol with Lao children for community development applications.

Abstract

Case Western Reserve UniversityThe emergence of sociocultural perspective in cross-cultural psychology has discouraged theadaptation of standardized tests in nonindustrialized settings. Yet, cognitive assessments areneeded for monitoring effects of nutritional, health, and educational interventions. Forty-sevenLao children 5 to 12 years of age completed Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children(K-ABC), Tactual Performance Test (TPT), and computerized Tests of Variables ofAttention (TOVA). TPT performance measures were related to physical (nutritional) develop-ment, whereas K-ABC global cognitive ability indicators were sensitive to parental educationand quality of home environment. TOVA performance was related to K-ABC global performanceand TPT memory, suggesting thai Ihese measures are at least partially undergirded by attentionalability. Sociocultural concerns aside, these findings suggest that validated neuropsychological andcognitive assessments can be adapted that effectively tap basic and universal brain-behavior traits.Emphasized throughout international developmentalliterature is need for evaluative techniques with at-riskchildren that are culturally valid yet sensitive to cognitivebenefits derived from educational and health interventions(Alvarez, 1982, 1983; Boivin, Giordani, & Bornefeld, 1995;Giordani, Boivin, Opel, Nseyila, & Lauer, 1996; Maj et al.,1991). There has been much debate on evaluative criteria forculture-fair cognitive ability tests, with recent consensusemphasizing importance of ecological validity of suchmeasures (Helms, 1992).Complicating efforts to address this need is fact thatcross-cultural psychology, and particularly cognitive psychol-ogy as considered from a cross-cultural standpoint, seems to bein midst of a major paradigmatic shift. Rogoff andChavajay (1995) have described the transformation of re-search on cognition and culture from cross-cultural compari-sons of psychological tasks to theory and research on people'sthinking in sociocultural (p. 859). In this importantMichael J. Boivin, Department of Psychology, Spring Arbor College,and Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan; ChantaravadyChounramany, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane. Laos; Bruno Giordani,Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan: Somchanh Xaisida,Layet Choulamountry, and Phonethep Pholsena, Maternal and ChildHealth Institute, Vientiane, Laos; Cheryl L. Crist, Department ofPsychology, Spring Arbor College; Karen Olness, Department ofPediatrics, Case Western Reserve University.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed toMichael J. Boivin, who is now at Department of Psychology,Indiana Wesleyan University, 4201 South Washington Street, Marion,Indiana 46953. Electronic mail may be sent via Internet tomboivin@indwes.edu.review, they noted emerging directions of research and theoryin cross-cultural psychology based largely on sociocultural-historical theory of Vygotsky and his colleagues (Kozulin,1990; van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991; Wertsch, 1991). Thisapproach is based on fundamental precept that cognition isbest understood by analyzing day-to-day social functionsand activities in which thinking occurs. Researchers cannotjust look at individual thinking in a vacuum, as thoughindividual thinking is separate from kinds of activities inwhich people engage and kinds of situations of which theyare a (Rogoff & Chavajay , 1995 p . 866)In light of this approach, what is essentially at issue fordevelopmental neuropsychology is extent to which univer-sal features of brain-behavior development and cognitiveability can be assessed in a similar manner in a variety ofcultural contexts. Is cultural context of daily social interac-tions and adaptations paramount in interpreting cognitiveability or development at any level? Or is it possible to tap acommon neuropsychological framework that underlies a child'sthinking and behavior within particular culture? Thepresent study attempted to probe this issue as part of an effortto validate a cognitive assessment battery for potential use indocumenting impact of community, educational, andhealth intervention programs expected to enhance children'sdevelopment.In designing such a battery, measures representing threemajor approaches to developmental assessment were consid-ered: neuropsychological assessment of brain-behavior func-tion, broad-based and multifaceted assessment of cognitiveability, and a specialized assessment of a basic cognitiveprocess. The Tactual Performance Test (TPT), a nonvisual,