Matching Familiar Figures Research Articles

Are learning disabled children more impulsive?: A comparison of learning disabled and normal-achieving children on Kagan's matching familiar figures test

The study compared the performance of 100 learning disabled and 100 normal-achieving third- and fourth-grade children on Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) to determine group differences along the impulsivity-reflection dimension. No significant group differences were found on MFF response latency scores; however, children in the learning disabled group made significantly more errors than did the normal achievement group on the MFF. A double-median split procedure for the MFF response latency and error scores of the total sample of 200 children was performed to classify the children by cognitive style along the impulsivity-reflection dimension (i.e., impulsive, fast-accurate, slow-inaccurate, reflective). No significant group differences in the distribution and frequency of cognitive styles were noted. The overall results suggest that learning disabled children are not more impulsive but rather use poor strategic behavior in processing information. Implications for diagnosis and remediation are discussed.

Cognitive, social, and other correlates of specific reading retardation.

Children with specific reading retardation were matched with controls on the basis of age, sex, intelligence, and (less successfully) parental education. All subjects were tested on a variety of automated performance tests including the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Task, Auditory-Visual Integration, Short-Term Memory, the Continuous Performance Task (CPT), and Motor Performance. All children were assessed socially using the Conners Teacher Questionnaire, and reading-retarded children were rated on the Behavior Problem Checklist. Finally, all children were screened with the Finger Twitch Test and were assessed for left-right awareness. Statistical analysis suggested that the following performance tests discriminated between the groups in this respective order of importance: MFF (Accuracy), Auditory-Visual Integration, and the CPT. The Short-Term Memory Task, MFF Decision Time, and Motor Performance did not distinguish between the groups. Multiple regression equations suggested that scores on the performance tests could account for about 40% of the variance in reading attainment. Several factors from the rating scales (notably those pertaining to attention and anxiety) and left-right awareness also discriminated between the groups.

Modeling effects on impulsivity with learning disabled children.

Thirty learning disabled third- and fourth-grade children classified as impulsive on Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test were assigned to one of three training conditions in which they viewed a model who responded in either a reflective or impulsive cognitive tempo on a matching-to-sample task or a control model who played an unrelated game. Training sessions were carried out weekly for three consecutive weeks. Match-to-sample tasks were administered to each subject following each session and one week after the third training session (delayed posttest). These tasks were scored for response latency and error rate. It was found that children who observed a reflective model showed significantly longer latencies than subjects in both the impulsive modeling and control group following each treatment session and on the delayed posttest. No significant group differences in error rates were found following the first training session; however, the reflective model group showed significantly fewer errors than the other groups following the last two training sessions and the delayed posttest. The results were discussed in terms of the educational implications for the impulsive learning disabled child and previous modeling research.

Reflection-Impulsivity in Predelinquent Preadolescents in a Residential Facility

Thirty institutionalized "predelinquent" preadolescents and 30 public school nondelinquent preadolescents were compared on Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) of cognitive impulsivity. Contrary to predictions, the former group was more reflective than the nondelinquents on both the latency and error dimensions of the MFF. Possible interpretations of the results are offered, as are suggestions for research on the impact of environmental factors on cognitive style.

Training in conceptual tempo: its effects on mentally retarded children's responding style to questionnaire items.

According to Kagan's (1965) notion of the conceptual tempo, impulsive disposition, usually measured by visual discrimination with match-to-sample tasks, is characterized by shorter response times and frequent errors whereas longer response times and fewer errors designate reflective disposition. The present study examined the effect of training mentally retarded children's conceptual tempo on verbal tasks such as questionnaire items. It was predicted that training impulsive children in march-to-sample visual discrimination nrould increase reaction time and decrease contradictions or 'errors' on questio~aire items. Subjects were 23 (median age = 14 yr., mean IQ = 43) impulsive responders with no identifiable visual-perceptual difficulties, selected from 85 mentally retarded children who were tested with the Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test Preschool Form. Based on a double-median solit. those with short reaction time (below median of 27.3 sec.) and high errors (above median of 3.6) were designated as impulsives. Responding style in verbal task was measured by an 11-item questionnaire selected from the Yes-Saying Scale (Rosen, Floor, & Zisfein, 1974). Two parts of the questionnaire were stated in such a way that the statement in one part was the reverse of the other. A contradiction or 'error' was indicated by two Yes's or rwo No's. Subjects were randomly assigned to three groups: visual discrimination (n = 8). question-answering (n = 8), and no-treatment control (n = 7). Both visual discrimination and question-answering groups received nine sessions each lasting 30 min. on a bi-weekly basis, and these training sessions extended over 5 wk. The visual discrimination training followed Gurlanick's (1976) self-instructional model, whereas the questionanswering focused on listening carefully, answering slowly and clearly, requesting the question be repeated, and saying No or I don't know when necessary. The reaction times and errors on the Marching Familiar Figures Test and the questionnaire were compared among the groups by analysis of covariance using the pretest score as covariate. The results were: (a) The visual discrimination group tended to show less error and longer reaction time only on the Matching Familiar Figures Test, while the question-answering group tended to show the same pattern only on the questionnaire; however, only reaction time to the questionnaire (F2.10 = 3.55, p < .05) reached statistical significance, and (b) The Matching Familiar Figures Test correlated with the questionnaire .36 (n = 54, p < .01) on reaction time and .38 on error. These findings, based on a highly structured questionnaire, are similar to those of Kagan (.30 for boys, .38 for girls) who employed an open-ended interview.

Instructional Variations and Adults' Conceptual Tempo Performance

Summary Forty-six college students were given the adult form of Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test twice, once under the standard (neutral) instructions, and a second time during which Ss were randomly assigned to one of three instruction groups. Two groups received instructions to minimize either response time or errors; a third group received neutral instructions. During the second administration, the group instructed to minimize response time showed more errors and lower response latency than the group instructed to minimize errors. Variances during the two administrations were compared within each group, with the use of the F-max test. Variances in the neutral group did not differ, but those in the other groups did, with variances significantly smaller during the second administration of the task. These results suggest that conceptual tempo reflects differences in implicit information processing criteria, which can be changed voluntarily, rather than automatic dispositional personality differences.

COGNITIVE IMPULSIVITY AND SOCIAL STATUS IN PREDELINQUENT PREADOLESCENT MALES

The relationship between cognitive impulsivity, as measured by Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF), and interpersonal popularity was investigated in a sample of 42 “predelinquent” preadolescent boys in a residential setting. Predictions that the relationship would vary with the specific sociometric situations sampled were generally not confirmed. In fact, both the latency and errors dimensions of the MFF proved to have comparatively little association with social status, with age and intelligence demonstrating much stronger correlations with sociometric scores. Similarities to, and differences from, results with nondelinquent populations are discussed, as are implications for attempts at modifying cognitive style.

Responses of normal and learning disabled children as a function of the stopwatch in the matching familiar figures testing situation

To ascertain whether normal and hyperactive learning disabled children differ in their responses to Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) as a function of a temporal cue, the stopwatch used in the testing situation, 16 learning disabled and 15 normal 8- and 9-year-old boys were compared. A counterbalanced design, in which each child was administered one-half of the test with a stopwatch (standard administration procedure) and the other one-half of the test without a stopwatch (No-Stopwatch procedure), was used. For the normal children, the MFF latency scores in the two conditions were not correlated, indicating that the stopwatch influenced their performance. For the learning disabled children, however, the MFF latency scores in the two conditions were correlated. A significant difference between the two correlation coefficients indicated that the normal and learning disabled children responded in a different manner to the temporal cue. On the MFF error measure, the correlation between the scores obtained in the two conditions of test administration was significant for the normal children, but not for the learning disabled children. A significant difference between these correlation coefficients again indicated differential responding to the temporal cue by the two groups.

Age and Conceptual Tempo

Summary The hypothesis was investigated that response times increase and errors decrease with age on Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test. Twenty-three boys and girls at each age level 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 years were administered the MFF. One way analyses of variance suggested that with age, response times do not increase, while errors do decrease but only between the ages of 5 and 7 years.

Variability of classification by the matching familiar figures test as a function of grade level medians

This study examined the variability of classification by the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) as a function of grade level medians. The MFF was administered to 52 kindergarten and 60 first-grade children, and classification was completed using two sets of medians. The first procedure involved classification based on medians for response time and errors computed from the combined MFF scores of the kindergarten and first-grade children. The second procedure involved clmsification of the same children based on separate medians for each grade. A x2 analysis indicated that MFF classification was highly dependent upon which sample medians were used; 18%(N = 20) of the sample failed to maintain the same classification across both procedures. Analysis also revealed that for the majority (65%) of the children change in classification was due to the change in the median error cutoff. The implications of these findings for future MFF research involving young children and the need for standardized norms for the MFF are discussed.

Reflection-Impulsivity and Self-Control in Preschool Children

TONER, IGNATIUS J.; HOLSTEIN, RUTH B.; and HETHERINGTON, E. MAVIS. Reflection-Impulsivity and Self-Control in Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 239-245. The relationship between performance on a simplified version of Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test of conceptual tempo, IQ, several measures of self-regulatory behavior, and general activity level in 55 preschool boys and girls was studied. The general hypothesis that the young children's style of responding on the MFF test would be related to their self-regulatory behavior on motor inhibition, delay of gratification, and temptation resistance tasks was generally supported, with the boys' level of accuracy on the MFF test especially predictive of self-control in other situations. The demonstration of self-control on virtually all of the tasks increased with age and males and females differed somewhat in their patterns of relations between the different measures.

ADU LT COGNITIVE STYLES AND TEST PERFORMANCE

Ninety adult males ages 25 to 58 were individually tested with three cognitive style measures: the Estimation Scale (ES), a measure of category width; the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Test; and the Hidden Figures Test (HFT). Multiple correlations were performed between the three cognitive style measures and the standardized scores from the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) area achievement examinations. The results of this analysis indicated that only MFF error scores produce a significant correlation with CLU exam performance. Further analyses conducted on the MFF data indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between response latencies and errors, there was a significant positive correltation between response latency and age, and reflective subjects had significantly higher mean CLU scores than did impulsive subjects. It was concluded that error scores on the MFF are a better predictor of test performance than are latencies. This conclusion was consistent with other studies that have...

Reflection-impulsivity in normal and behavior-disordered children

The primary index of reflection-impulsivity is Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF), which yields both a latency and an error score. To evaluate further the construct validity of these measures, both the latency and error scores of 9- and 15-year-old normal and "acting-out" behavior-disordered children were compared. Young behavior-disordered children were found to be more impulsive than the other groups on the MFF error measure. No differences occurred on the MFF latency measure. This result is consistent with previous findings with normal children in supporting the construct validity of the MFF error score and raising questions about the construct validity of the MFF latency score. Findings were inconsistent with Kagan's assertion that normal children become more reflective with age. The older behavior-disordered children were more reflective on the error measure than the younger behavior-disordered children and had equivalent error scores to both age groups of normals. This finding suggested a lag in the development of reflection in behavior-disordered children.

Some Psychometric Problems of the Matching Familiar Figures Test

Administered were Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test and a group intelligence test to 151 male and 130 female Japanese 2nd graders, and detailed analyses of responses were made. While matching response time was high in internal consistency, errors were much less consistent. Variant positions were differentially selected by 4 groups, and the position where correct variants were placed partially accounted for “the error variance” of errors. But it seemed that errors of the matching test could not be made reliable enough simply by refining and lengthening the present version of Kagan's test. While slow-accurate, fast-accurate, and slow-inaccurate children adjusted their response time to item difficulty, fast-inaccurate children failed to do so. Almost all of these results were replicated in third and fifth graders. By the ordinary scoring method of intelligence test, the 4 matching groups differed from each other only in girls. But by adjusting the scores for errors, intelligence test performance came to correlate with the matching figures even in boys.

On the limits of Kagan’s impulsive reflective distinction

A logical analysis is made of the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Test on the basis of which children have been classified as "impulsive" or "reflective." The reflective strategy is implicitly preferred to the impulsive because the reflective child makes fewer errors though generally taking longer to make his first response. We show that the test allows the choice of a number of "game plans" and speed-accuracy tradeoffs which in practice may not be very different. Error rates may not indicate perceptual sensitivity, in any case, since sensitivity and response factors may be confounded in the error rate. Using a visual running-memory-span task to avoid the inherent difficulties of the MFF test, we found that children previously classified on the basis of that test as impulsive or reflective did not differ in recognition accuracy but did differ in response bias and response latency. Accuracy and bias are estimated by way of Luce's choice theory (Luce, 1963), and the results are discussed in those terms.

A Multitrait-Multimethod Analysis of Reflection-Impulsivity

BENTLER, P. M., and McCLAIN, JANIS. A Multitrait-Multimethod Analysis of ReflectionImpulsivity. CmILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 218-226. The relationship between reflectionimpulsivity, as assessed by Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures test, and 4 personality variables-impulsivity, academic achievement motivation, test anxiety, and extraversion-was examined with 68 fifth-grade children. Each of the personality variables was measured by 3 different methods-peer, teacher, and self ratings. Although validity, as assessed by multitraitmultimethod analysis, was high, only 1 isolated personality variable correlated highly with any MFF variable. The relationship between reflection-impulsivity and motor inhibition, as measured by the ability to draw a line and walk slowly, was also investigated. Drawing a line slowly was significantly correlated with reflectivity and with teacher ratings of introversion and anxiety.

Relationship between Reflection-Impulsivity and Problem Solving

Performance of 88 children categorized as reflective or impulsive was compared on convergent and divergent problem-solving tasks. The matching familiar-figures test was administered along with tests for determining the correct order of a word sequence, and for listing unusual uses for familiar objects. Reflective children ( n = 33) made significantly fewer errors on the convergent problem-solving task than impulsive children ( n = 33), but there was no effect of cognitive style on the divergent problem-solving task. Reflective-impulsive performance was discussed in terms of evaluation criteria for selecting responses.

Cognitive Impulsivity and Role-Taking Skills in Elementary School Children

The relationship between cognitive impulsivity and perspective-taking ability was examined in 53 fourth-graders. Significant correlations were found between boys' (but not girls') perspective-taking skills (assessed by Chandler's test of egocentrism) and both dimensions of impulsivity, i.e., accuracy and latency, on Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test. Self-regulatory private speech is postulated as a possible construct mediating the development of role-taking skill, accurate matching performance, and a reflective tempo. Implications of the present results for programs attempting to modify cognitive style and future investigations of the development of other cognitive and personality variables are discussed.

A Qualitative Analysis of Oral Reading Errors of Reflective and Impulsive Second Graders: A Follow-Up Study

This study investigates differences between reflective (REF) and impulsive (IMP) second-graders in number and category of oral reading errors and their correction. Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures test (MFF) was employed in selecting extreme groups of 25 REF and 25 IMP Ss from all 166 second-graders in one midwestern city using the same second-grade basal reader for reading instruction. The Ss' oral reading and their answers to questions over two stories (of second- and third-grade readability levels) were audio-tape-recorded. Five scorers were trained to code the oral reading errors. The scores for each error category were based on the combined stories, and were means of the errors coded by the five scorers. Reliabilities of error scores ranged from .84 to .99. Results indicate: (a) more REF than IMP Ss with low error scores but insignificant differences in mean number of errors, (b) proportionately more graphically similar errors for REF than for IMP Ss but no significant differences in any other category, (c) more corrections by REF Ss overall and within the categories of graphically dissimilar errors and errors appropriate to the preceding but not the following context, (d) no significant differences between REF and IMP Ss in number of repetitions, rate of reading, nor in comprehension scores.

Can Cognitive Impulsivity Be Predicted from Classroom Behavior?

Abstract The intent of this study was to document general behavioral correlates of cognitive impulsivity. Fourth-grade children were individually administered the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test, and the resulting measures (latency and errors) were correlated with a group administered scale of impulsivity, the Impulsivity Scale for Children (ISC) and eight teacher ratings evaluating the child on a series of different behaviors. No relationships existed between MFF measures and the ISC; and only one teacher rating correlated significantly with either MFF variable. This teacher rating (tendency to respond) was found to be the only discriminating teacher rating, and the high correlation between it and the MFF latency was explained because of the high task similarity between MFF requirements and the behaviors rated on “tendency to respond.” Cognitive impulsivity was not predicted by classroom behavior, implying that an individual's preferred conceptual tempo is not a part of a global impulsive behavior p...