Children's Embedded Figures Test Research Articles

Linking the Puzzle Pieces of the Past: A Study of Relational Memory in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Our memories are made of detailed sensory information representing the puzzle pieces of our personal past. The type of memory integrating sensory features is referred to as relational memory. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether relational memory is affected in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since altered relational memory may contribute to atypical episodic memory observed in ASD. We also examined the association between perceptual style and relational memory abilities. Children with ASD (n = 14) and typically developed (TD) children (n = 16, 9-15 years old) completed a memory task with three conditions: two single-feature conditions measuring memory for objects and locations, and one relational memory condition measuring memory for objects and their locations combined. The Children's embedded figures test was administered to measure perceptual style. The ASD group selected more incorrect stimuli (false alarms) than the TD group, resulting in a lower proportion of correctly recognized targets across all memory conditions. The ASD group did not display a more local perceptual style than the TD group. However, perceptual style was associated with improved memory abilities across conditions. Our findings indicate that the overall memory performance of children with ASD is less stable, leading them to more incorrect responses than TD children. This may be due to the executive demands of the memory tasks, rather than specific impairments in memory binding. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1959-1969. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC LAY SUMMARY: The present study shows that children with autism have a less stable memory than typically developed children, which is reflected in a higher amount of incorrect memory responses. Overall, our results indicate that children with autism display difficulties in differentiating previously studied from novel information when solving both single-feature memory tasks and a relational memory task (requiring memory of combination of features). These difficulties may have implications for how children with autism remember episodes from their personal past.

Field Independence Associates with Mathematics and Science Performance in 5‐ to 10‐Year‐Olds after Accounting for Domain‐General Factors

ABSTRACTField independence describes the extent to which individuals are influenced by context when trying to identify embedded targets. It associates with cognitive functioning and is a predictor of academic achievement. However, little is known about the neural and cognitive underpinnings of field independence that lead to these associations. Here, we investigated behavioral associations between two measures of field independence (Children's Embedded Figures Test [CEFT] and Design Organization Test [DOT]) and performance on tests of mathematics (reasoning and written arithmetic) and science (reasoning and scientific inquiry) in 135 children aged 5–10 years. There were strong associations between field independence and mathematics and science, which were largely explained by individual differences in age, intelligence, and verbal working memory. However, regression analyses indicated that after controlling for these variables, the CEFT explained additional variance on the mathematical reasoning and science tests, whereas the DOT predicted unique variance on the written arithmetic test.

Exploring of mathematics learning difficulties for students based on heterogeneous group and cognitive style in elementary school

Students with mathematics learning difficulties (MLDs) are heterogeneous. They can grow from various socio-economic groups or based on specific district areas. Cognitive style is likewise worked as a reference to perform grouping of children into certain sub-type MLDs. This study aims at exploring sub-types of MLDs in elementary school students by gender, district area, and cognitive style. This study involved 153 elementary school students in Buleleng Regency, Bali. The students tested their underlying of mathematical abilities for numerical understanding, geometry, and measurement materials. The cognitive style was determined to utilize the Children Embedded Figures Test (CEFT). Data were analysed using Rasch Model. There are 137 students have a problem with mathematics based on MLDs test. The female students and the dependence on an urban or suburbs school have a most serious problem in mathematics learning. These findings have means for the intervention of MLDs based on specific gender groups, district areas, and cognitive styles.

An interaction effect between young children's field dependence-independence and order of learning with glass-box and black-box simulations: Evidence for the malleability of cognitive style in computer-supported learning

A counterbalanced measures design was used to examine whether the order of learning with a glass-box simulation about the life cycle of butterflies, and, a black-box simulation about the life of bees, differentially affected field-dependent and field-independent children's performance on two related knowledge tests. The children aged from 5 to 6.5 years old were classified into a field type based on their Children's Embedded Figures Test scores. Subsequently, they were assigned into Group A and Group B. Group A learned first with the glass-box simulation followed by the black-box simulation, while Group B used the tools in the reverse order. A statistically significant interaction effect was found between field type and order of learning with the simulations on the butterfly post-test performance, showing that learning first with the black-box simulation facilitated field-dependent children's subsequent learning with the glass-box simulation. The results tap on the issue about whether field dependence-independence is a cognitive ability or cognitive style, and the issue of the malleability of cognitive styles as well. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Autistic children at risk of being underestimated: school-based pilot study of a strength-informed assessment.

BackgroundAn important minority of school-aged autistic children, often characterized as ‘nonverbal’ or ‘minimally verbal,’ displays little or no spoken language. These children are at risk of being judged ‘low-functioning’ or ‘untestable’ via conventional cognitive testing practices. One neglected avenue for assessing autistic children so situated is to engage current knowledge of autistic cognitive strengths. Our aim was thus to pilot a strength-informed assessment of autistic children whose poor performance on conventional instruments suggests their cognitive potential is very limited.MethodsThirty autistic children (6 to 12 years) with little or no spoken language, attending specialized schools for autistic children with the highest levels of impairment, were assessed using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices board form (RCPM), Children’s Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), and a visual search task. An age-matched control group of 27 typical children was also assessed.ResultsNone of the autistic children could complete WISC-IV; only six completed any subtest. In contrast, 26 autistic children could complete RCPM, with 17 scoring between the 5th and 90th percentile. Twenty-seven autistic children completed the visual search task, while 26 completed CEFT, on which autistic children were faster than RCPM-matched typical children. Autistic performance on RCPM, CEFT, and visual search were correlated.ConclusionThese results indicate that ‘minimally verbal’ or ‘nonverbal’ school-aged autistic children may be at risk of being underestimated: they may be wrongly regarded as having little cognitive potential. Our findings support the usefulness of strength-informed approaches to autism and have important implications for the assessment and education of autistic children.

Is macrocephaly a neural marker of a local bias in autism?

Previous research has suggested that the local processing bias often reported in studies of Autism Spectrum Condition may only be typical of a subgroup of individuals with autism also presenting with macrocephaly. The current study examined a group of children with autism, with and without macrocephaly, on the Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), a well-established measure of local processing bias. The results demonstrated that the children with autism and macrocephaly performed significantly better on the CEFT than children with autism without macrocephaly, indicative of a local bias. These results lend support to the proposal that both macrocephaly in autism and a local processing bias may arise from the same underlying neural processes and these characteristics represent an endophenotype in a subgroup of individuals with ASC worthy of further investigation.

Evidence for Distinct Cognitive Profiles in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Specific Language Impairment

Findings that a subgroup of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have linguistic capabilities that resemble specific language impairment (SLI) have led some authors to hypothesise that ASD and SLI have a shared aetiology. While considerable research has explored overlap in the language phenotypes of the two conditions, little research has examined possible overlap in cognitive characteristics. In this study, we explored nonword and sentence repetition performance, as well as performance on the Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT) for children with ASD or SLI. As expected, 'language impaired' children with ASD (ALI) and children with SLI performed worse than both 'language normal' ASD (ALN) and typically developing (TD) children on the nonword and sentence repetition tests. Further, the SLI children performed worse than all other groups on the CEFT. This finding supports distinct cognitive profiles in ASD and SLI and may provide further evidence for distinct aetiological mechanisms in the two conditions.

Effects of Fetal Testosterone on Visuospatial Ability

This study investigated whether fetal testosterone (FT) measured from second trimester amniotic fluid was related to specific aspects of visuospatial ability, in children aged 7-10years (35 boys, 29 girls). A series of tasks were used: the children's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) (a test of attention to detail), a ball targeting task (measuring hand-eye coordination), and a computerized mental rotation task (measuring rotational ability). FT was a significant predictor for EFT scores in both boys and girls, with boys also showing a clear advantage for this task. No significant sex differences were observed in targeting. Boys scored higher than girls on mental rotation. However, no significant relationships were observed between FT and targeting or mental rotation. Girls' performance on the mental rotation and targeting tasks was significantly related to age, indicating that these tasks may have been too difficult for the younger children. These results indicate that FT has a significant role in some aspects of cognitive development but that further work is needed to understand its effect on the different aspects of visuospatial ability.

Evidence for a Cultural Influence on Field-Independence in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Field-independence, or weak central coherence, is a recognised phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is also evidence of cultural variation in this perceptual style, as neurotypical individuals from Western nations are more field-independent than neurotypical individuals from East-Asian nations. The majority of research on perceptual style in those with ASD has been carried out in Western nations therefore it is unclear whether increased field-independence in ASD is a culturally universal phenotype. Here, we assessed perceptual style in children with and without ASD from England and Singapore using the Children's Embedded Figures Test and the Framed-Line Test. We found increased field-independence in the English participants with ASD only, suggesting that weak central coherence in ASD is not culturally universal.

FC05-05 - Fronto-temporal disconnectivity and symptom severity in autism spectrum disorders

BackgroundThere is increasing evidence that many of the core behavioral impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) emerge from disconnectivity of networks that are important for social communication. It is less clear, which specific fiber tracts are involved and how possible alterations of white matter are associated with clinical symptomatology and neuropsychololgical characteristics in ASD.Methods18 children with ASD and 18 carefully matched typically developing controls aged 6–12 years were examined using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Fractional anisotropy (FA) values were correlated with symptom severity as indexed by the children's scores on the Autisms Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and results from the Childrens Embedded Figures Test (CEFT).ResultsDecreased FA values were identified for the fornix (FO), the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) the corpus callosum and the uncinate fasciculus (UF) in the ASD group compared to controls, with most prominent differences in the UF bilaterally and the right SLF. FA values of affected fiber tracts were negatively associated with clinical measures of autistic smypotmatology and response time of the CEFT. Additionally, we observed decreased grey matter concentration in the left supramarginal gyrus.ConclusionOur findings support the hypothesis of abnormal white matter microstructure of fronto-temporal cortical networks in ASD, which are associated with core symptoms of the disorder.

Utilidad del Children´s Embedded Figures Test en el Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad

Objectives: To assess the differences among patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and control subjects, in relation to their global/analytical way of processing information and to find the best model based in Children´s Embedded Figures Test (CEFT) which permits prediction and diagnosis of ADHD, and analyzing the validity of the test for the diagnostic of the disease. Method: We study 100 ADHD cases (DSM-IV criteria) and 100 controls, ranging between 7 and 11 years of age, analyzed with CEFT. Controls were randomly recruited and matched by age, gender and sociodemography area with cases. Results: Cases show an average cognitive style significantly more field dependent (d = 1.36), reflecting a more global way of processing information than controls at all ages. The logistic regression model that best predicts ADHD is constituted by age, gender and CEFT direct marks and the derived formula from the model shows an 80% of sensitivity and a 84% specificity for ADHD, taking as gold standard the DSM-IV criteria. Conclusion: CEFT test shows utility and of appropriate validity for diagnosing ADHD.

Digits Backward and the Children's Embedded Figures Test among School-Age Spanish Children

This study examined whether performance on a single working-memory task (Digits Backward) was associated with scores on field-dependence-independence, as measured on the Children's Embedded Figures Test. Four different age groups of children were tested (N=144): 33 8-yr.-olds, 40 9-yr.-olds, 33 10-yr.-olds, and 38 11-yr.-olds. Children were classified into three groups (Field-dependent, Field-independent, and Intermediate) within each age range. Analyses of variance indicated performance on the Digits Backward was significantly higher for the children in the 11-yr.-old group than the youngest group (8-yr.-olds). Children in the Field-independent groups also had significantly higher scores than those in the Field-dependent or Intermediate groups. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Non-superior disembedding performance in children with high-functioning autism and its cognitive style account

Some early studies showed a superior disembedding performance in autistic people while other studies found no difference between autistic and controls. The present study aimed to assess such disembedding ability in 14 boys with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 14 chronological age and non-verbal IQ matched typically developed boys using an Informatized Kohs’ Cube Test (“Samuel”) and a modified Children's embedded figures test (CEFT). No statistically significant group difference was found between paired subjects (although more control subjects succeeded in the Samuel Test) and the HFA subjects showed in the Samuel Test as much “flexibility” in strategy adoption as the control subjects, which is not in accordance with some early reports of superior visuo-spatial performance nor with the classical weak coherence theory. Results in the present study, the discrepancies in early findings as well as the symptomatic and cognitive heterogeneity of autism are discussed in the light of cognitive style account.

Abnormal global processing along the dorsal visual pathway in autism: a possible mechanism for weak visuospatial coherence?

Frith and Happé (Frith, U., & Happé, F. (1994). Autism: Beyond theory of mind. Cognition, 50, 115–132) argue that individuals with autism exhibit ‘weak central coherence’: an inability to integrate elements of information into coherent wholes. Some authors have speculated that a high-level impairment might be present in the dorsal visual pathway in autism, and furthermore, that this might account for weak central coherence, at least at the visuospatial level. We assessed the integrity of the dorsal visual pathway in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and in typically developing children, using two visual tasks, one examining functioning at higher levels of the dorsal cortical stream (Global Dot Motion (GDM)), and the other assessing lower-level dorsal stream functioning (Flicker Contrast Sensitivity (FCS)). Central coherence was tested using the Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT). Relative to the typically developing children, the children with ASD had shorter CEFT latencies and higher GDM thresholds but equivalent FCS thresholds. Additionally, CEFT latencies were inversely related to GDM thresholds in the ASD group. These outcomes indicate that the elevated global motion thresholds in autism are the result of high-level impairments in dorsal cortical regions. Weak visuospatial coherence in autism may be in the form of abnormal cooperative mechanisms in extra-striate cortical areas, which might contribute to differential performance when processing stimuli as Gestalts, including both dynamic (i.e., global motion perception) and static (i.e., disembedding performance) stimuli.

Importancia del estilo cognitivo y el temperamento en el ámbito escolar [The importance of the cognitive style and temperament in the school context

The cognitive style Field Dependence/Independence (FDI) has been considered an explanatory factor in the individual differences of subjects. Even when the FDI factor is given a neutral value, questions arise on its neutrality when a relationship is established between the cognitive and personality variables. As a result many studies have been carried out to test the influence and importance of FDI in the school environment. Child temperament is another of the variables which has been shown to have important implications on school achievement. The present paper aims to find out whether the FDI cognitive style and temperament are related, and whether these two variables in their turn are related to cognitive, achievement and emotional variables. The sample is 108 boys and 106 girls between the ages of 6 and 7. The instruments used were: the Battery of Differential and General Aptitudes (BADyG. Yuste, 1984), the Children Embedded Figures Test (CEFT. Karp & Konstadt, 1971/1982), the Reactivity Rating Scale (RRS. Friedensberg & Strelau, 1982) and the Human Figure Drawing (HFD. Koppitz 1974/1991). The results confirm an association which is statistically significant between the FDI and temperament, and at the same time these variables are shown to be related to intelligence, school achievement and the emotional indicators in HFD. Furthermore it has been observed that the group with better results on an intellectual level and with better academic achievement in reading, writing and Maths are the subjects who are Field Independent and have low reactivity.

On the relationship between partial occlusion drawing, M capacity and field independence

Five pairs of objects with different degrees of similarity, one partly occluded by the other, were presented to 119 children (5–8 years old) as models for drawing. Participants were also tested for M capacity and field independence. The results showed a pattern of relationships between M capacity and partial occlusion drawing, exactly consistent with the predictions derived from Morra, Angi, and Tomat's (1996) model. As predicted, field independence was also related to partial occlusion drawing. A detailed analysis of field independence scores revealed that, out of three measures (rod‐and‐frame, children's embedded figures test, and block design), only embedded figures showed a relationship with drawings that was still significant when M capacity and the other two field independence measures were partialled out. Following PascualLeone's (1989) neo‐Piagetian model of field independence, this divergence among tests was interpreted as an indication of a figurative misleading field effect in the partial occlusion drawing task.

Children's embedded figures test and matching familiar figures test-20: factorial structure for boys and girls from 6 to 11 years old.

The factorial structure of two tests of cognitive style (the Children's Embedded Figures Test and the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20) and one test of cognitive ability (Raven Progressive Matrices) was examined in this study with a sample of 337 boys and 287 girls between ages 6 and 11 years. Factor I related to Impulsivity and Factor II related to cognitive ability and disembedding skills, which were stable across age groups and sex and accounted for 84.6% of variance.

Correlations among scores on measures of field dependence-independence cognitive style, cognitive ability, and sustained attention.

The Children's Embedded Figures Test, the Rod and Frame Test to measure the field dependence-independence cognitive style, Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Tests to measure cognitive ability, and two cancellation tasks (Zazzo task and Bourdon task) to assess sustained attention were administered to 179 boys and 110 girls whose average age was 9.0 yr. Correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence and cognitive ability were moderated. Average correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence, cognitive ability, and measures of sustained attention was .23 for the Zazzo task and quite weak (.06) for the Bourdon task.

READING ABILITY AND DIFFERENTIAL COGNITIVE PROFILES OF GIRLS AND BOYS

To compare the differential cognitive and stylistic profiles of Spanish-speaking girls and boys and the relation between these profiles with subjects' reading scores 50 girls and 50 boys, 8 years old, were assessed on a reading test, the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and the Intellectual Test (Escala Diferencial del Rendimiento Intelectual). Analysis showed differential cognitive profiles for the two sexes. While girls used single, essentially verbal strategies for the reading activity, boys with high reading scores used verbal and perceptual strategies. In general, for girls verbal intelligence scores had correlated the highest with reading scores and lowest with independence on the Children's Embedded Figures Test. For boys the two tests contribute to the explained variance of reading scores. Curiously for scores in reading letters, reading strategies of the two groups seemed inverted.

Field independence, cultural context and academic achievement: a commentary

Background. This review of literature on cross‐cultural aspects of perceptual disembedding skills takes as a starting point a commentary on the Spanish work on field dependence‐independence and scholastic achievements (Tinajero & Páramo, 1997).Aims. To place findings from cross‐cultural psychology on field independence in the context of current literature on multicultural education.Methods. A review of literature, and in particular a review of the authors' studies in this field.Results. It appears that because of the wide variation in abilities in perceptual disembedding between cultures, and the malleability of cognitive styles in migrant children, the concept of cognitive style is more usefully deployed as an indicator of process and change in migration and multicultural education than as a description of basic cognitive processes. Those factors which have influenced change in the direction of children's greater perceptual disembedding skills (urbanisation, migration, exposure to computers and computer games) may also be related to some of the factors responsible for the increase in mean levels of intelligence seen in children in the developed world. The paradox of very high mean scores on the Children's Embedded Figures Test found in studies of Japanese and Chinese 9‐ to 11‐year‐olds, in the absence of identifiable factors which could explain why children in group oriented cultures have such marked abilities in perceptual disembedding, is considered.Conclusion. Multicultural educational practices should not be framed on the presumption that particular ethnic groups possess a particular kind of cognitive style. It is the teacher in the multicultural classroom who should have a field independent cognitive style, so that he or she can accommodate different learning styles in classroom tasks.