Measures Of Cognitive Processes Research Articles

Psychometric Stability of Nationally Normed and Experimental Decoding and Related Measures in Children with Reading Disability

Achievement and cognitive tests are used extensively in the diagnosis and educational placement of children with reading disabilities (RD). Moreover, research on scholastic interventions often requires repeat testing and information on practice effects. Little is known, however, about the test-retest and other psychometric properties of many commonly used measures within the beginning reader population, nor are these nationally normed or experimental measures comparatively evaluated. This study examined the test-retest reliability, practice effects, and relations among a number of nationally normed measures of word identification and spelling and experimental measures of achievement and reading-related cognitive processing tests in young children with significant RD. Reliability was adequate for most tests, although lower than might be ideal on a few measures when there was a lengthy test-retest interval or with the reduced behavioral variability that can be seen in groups of beginning readers. Practice effects were minimal. There were strong relations between nationally normed measures of decoding and spelling and their experimental counterparts and with most measures of reading-related cognitive processes. The implications for the use of such tests in treatment studies that focus on beginning readers are discussed.

MouseTrace: a better mousetrap for catching decision processes.

This paper describes MouseTrace, a computer program designed to monitor the process by which people make decisions by presenting complex choice information to subjects in the form of an alternative-by-attribute matrix. MouseTrace is a Windows-based extension of another program called MouseLab; however, MouseTrace accommodates significantly more information and allows for multiple responses, as well as multiple decision stages. It is also easier to use for both subjects and experimenters and more sophisticated in terms of its features and the data it records. These data include what information was examined, when, and in what order. This information can be used to derive a variety of cognitive process measures, including those related to search depth, sequence, and content, which in turn can be used to provide unique insights into decision-making theory, individual differences, and a variety of decision variables.

Is the donut in front of the car? An electrophysiological study examining spatial reference frame processing.

The process of describing an object's location relative to another object results in ambiguity. How do people handle this ambiguity? The present studies examined spatial language processing when use of different reference frames results in ambiguity. We investigated whether electrophysiological (ERP) measures of cognitive processing may elucidate underlying reference frame processing; in particular, we were interested in semantic integration. ERP results showed a larger N400, peaking between 300 and 375 ms, when the intrinsic frame was not used. Behavioural results mirrored this finding, indicating a reduced cognitive processing requirement for the intrinsic reference frame. Previous work has not definitively tied spatial reference frame processing to specific ERP components and their associated cognitive processes. Although the N400 peak seen in this data is early, additional work supports the N400 interpretation, thereby linking spatial frame processing to semantic integration. Results are discussed within the larger context of spatial reference frame processing.

Implicit associations for fear-relevant stimuli among individuals with snake and spider fears.

This study investigated an implicit measure of cognitive processing, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998), as a measure of fear-related automatic associations. Sixty-seven students with snake or spider fears completed 4 IAT tasks in which they classified pictures of snakes and spiders along with descriptive words indicating valence, fear, danger, or disgust. Results indicated that all 4 tasks discriminated between fear groups in terms of their implicit associations, and fear-specific effects were significant even after controlling for the impact of valence evaluation. Findings are discussed in terms of applications of the IAT methodology to examine cognitive processing and schemata in anxiety and potential uses for assessing anxiety disorders.

Implicit associations for fear-relevant stimuli among individuals with snake and spider fears.

This study investigated an implicit measure of cognitive processing, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998), as a measure of fear-related automatic associations. Sixty-seven students with snake or spider fears completed 4 IAT tasks in which they classified pictures of snakes and spiders along with descriptive words indicating valence, fear, danger, or disgust. Results indicated that all 4 tasks discriminated between fear groups in terms of their implicit associations, and fear-specific effects were significant even after controlling for the impact of valence evaluation. Findings are discussed in terms of applications of the IAT methodology to examine cognitive processing and schemata in anxiety and potential uses for assessing anxiety disorders.

A genome-wide scan of 1842 DNA markers for allelic associations with general cognitive ability: a five-stage design using DNA pooling and extreme selected groups.

All measures of cognitive processes correlate moderately at the phenotypic level and correlate substantially at the genetic level. General cognitive ability (g) refers to what diverse cognitive processes have in common. Our goal is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with high g compared with average g. In order to detect QTLs of small effect size, we used extreme selected samples and a five-stage design with nominal alpha levels that permit false positive results in early stages but remove false positives in later stages. As a first step toward a systematic genome scan for allelic association, we used DNA pooling to screen 1842 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers approximately evenly spaced at 2 cM throughout the genome in a five-stage design: (1) case-control DNA pooling (101 cases with mean IQ of 136 and 101 controls with mean IQ of 100), (2) case-control DNA pooling (96 cases with IQ > 160 and 100 controls with mean IQ of 102), (3) individual genotyping of Stage 1 sample, (4) individual genotyping of Stage 2 sample, (5) transmission disequilibrium test (TDT; 196 parent-child trios for offspring with IQ > 160). The over all Type I error rate is 0.000125, which robustly protects against false positive results. The numbers of markers surviving each stage using a conservative allele-specific directional test were 108, 6, 4, 2, and 0, respectively, for the five stages. A genomic control test using DNA pooling suggested that the failure to replicate the positive case-control results in the TDT analysis was not due to ethnic stratification. Several markers that were close to significance at all stages are being investigated further. Relying on indirect association based on linkage disequilibrium between markers and QTLs means that 100,000 markers may be needed to exclude QTL associations. Because power drops off precipitously for indirect association approaches when a marker is not close to the QTL, we are not planning to genotype additional SSR markers. Instead we are using the same design to screen markers such as cSNPs and SNPs in regulatory regions that are likely to include functional polymorphisms in which the marker can be presumed to be the QTL.

Psychological aspects of chronic tonic and clonic stuttering: suggested therapeutic approaches.

A comparison of the personality profiles and intellectual functioning of 12 tonic and 18 clonic stutterers indicated that the groups could be discriminated on measures of verbal IQ, object relations, social isolation, somatization, and cognitive processing. Findings are examined in terms of the impact of type of functioning on maintenance of stuttering, and implications for treatment are discussed.

An Evaluation of Task Network Modeling for Use in Simulating Situation Awareness

To achieve its mission of regulating the commercial nuclear power industry, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) periodically commissions research studies to investigate potential safety issues. These include operational studies involving operator and crew performance. A main objective of these research projects is to provide information and knowledge that can be used in the development of regulation, regulatory guidance, and improved methods for collecting and analyzing personnel performance data to assist in regulatory inspections, investigations, and evaluations. The Halden Man-Machine Laboratory (HAMMLAB) in Halden, Norway recently conducted a study using professional nuclear power plant operators to investigate the effect of different alarm systems and display types on operator performance. Dependent variables in the Halden Alarm study included a mix of plant performance measures, operator task performance measures, operator cognitive processes, and subjective evaluations. Operator cognitive process measures included measures of Situation Awareness (SA) using an adaptation of the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). Through the NRC, Micro Analysis and Design was allowed access to the work being performed at Halden in order to evaluate the use of Task Network Modeling (TNM) to simulate human behavior in a nuclear power plant. The alarm system, a turbine trip scenario and data from Halden were used as the basis for the model developed in this project. For part of this project, we also developed a model to simulate SA that was representative of how it was measured in the Halden Alarm study. This model was then integrated into our model that represented a disturbance scenario at a nuclear power plant. Data generated by the task network simulation was then compared to data collected from the nuclear power plant simulator at the HAMMLAB. Statistical tests showed no significant differences between the SA scores of actual operators and those SA scores predicted by the model. Thus, results indicate that a simple representation of SA within TNM can be used to accurately predict situation awareness given this measuring technique. Implications of this finding and recommendations for improving the model are discussed.

Validity of measures of cognitive processes and general ability for learning and performance on highly complex computerized tutors: Is the g factor of intelligence even more general?

Theoretical arguments and analyses from 2 studies provide compelling evidence that computerized measures of information-processing skills and abilities are highly useful supplements to more traditional, paper-based measures of general mental ability for predicting individuals' capacity to learn from and perform on highly challenging, multifaceted tutors. These tutors were designed to emulate learning and performance in complex, real-world settings. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence that a general, higher order factor model with general ability at the apex could quite adequately and singularly account for the individual-differences data, both traditional and cognitive-process measures. Results are interpreted in light of the utility and generality of human cognitive abilities.

Validity of measures of cognitive processes and general ability for learning and performance on highly complex computerized tutors: Is the g factor of intelligence even more general?

Validity of measures of cognitive processes and general ability for learning and performance on highly complex computerized tutors: Is the g factor of intelligence even more general?

When Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Modeling Postdecisional Cognitive Correlates of Condom Use1

Measures of intention usually leave substantial proportions of the variance in behavior unexplained. It has been suggested that improved behavioral prediction could be achieved by identifying postdecisional cognitive processes capable of distinguishing between intenders who do act and those do not act. Condom‐related self‐report measures of postdecisional cognitive processes were developed and tested in a cross‐sectional questionnaire study involving 447 heterosexual students. A discriminant function composed of postdecisional measures was found to significantly distinguish between intenders who reported use and non‐use and to correctly classify 80% of intenders. The results indicate that measures of the relative importance of competing intentions, prior planning of specific preparatory actions, and action‐specific self‐efficacy may enhance the prediction of condom use among intenders.

Speaking to Read: The Effects of Continuous vs. Discrete Speech Recognition Systems on the Reading and Spelling of Children with Learning Disabilities

In recent literature on persons with learning disabilities (LD), speech recognition has been addressed primarily as an assistive technology to compensate for writing difficulties. However, prior research by the authors has shown that speech recognition may have a remedial effect on reading and spelling. The present study was conducted to compare the effects of two types of speech recognition systems, discrete speech and continuous speech, in terms of their relative remedial effects. Thirty-nine students with LD (aged 9-18) had participated in a previous study. Nineteen had used discrete speech systems for 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks to write on self-selected topics, while twenty students in a control group had received general computer instruction. In the following semester, an additional experimental condition was added. Thirteen participants used continuous speech recognition systems 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks to write on self-selected topics. Results were then compared across all three groups. Both discrete and continuous speech groups showed significant improvement in word recognition (p<.002, p<.018) and reading comprehension (p<.043, p<.041) over the control group and the discrete condition also showed significant improvement in spelling (p<.015). Pre- and post-tests on five reading-related cognitive processing measures (phonological, orthographic and semantic processing, metcognitive reading strategies, and working memory) indicated that only phonological processing improved significantly, and only for the discrete speech group when compared to controls (p<.04). Results were related to specific differences between continuous and discrete speech systems in terms of the task requirements for generating and correcting text using the two systems.

Speaking to read: The effects of speech recognition technology on the reading and spelling performance of children with learning disabilities

In recent literature on persons with learning disabilities (LD), speech recognition has been discussed primarily as an assistive technology to help compensate for writing difficulties. However, prior research by the authors has suggested that in addition to helping persons to compensate for poor writing skills, speech recognition also may enhance reading and spelling; that is, what was designed as assistive technology appears to serve remedial functions as well. The present study was conducted to determine whether elementary and secondary students with LD who used the technology to write self-selected compositions and class assignments would demonstrate improvements in reading and spelling. Thirty-nine students with LD (ages 9 to 18) participated. Nineteen participants used speech recognition 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks, and twenty students in a control group received general computer instruction. Results indicated that the speech recognition group showed significantly more improvement than the control group in word recognition (p<.0001), spelling (p<.002) and reading comprehension (p<.01). Pre- and posttests on five reading-related cognitive processing measures (phonological, orthographic, semantic processing, metacognitive reading strategies, and working memory) indicated that for the experimental group, only phonological processing improved significantly over the treatment period when compared to controls (p<.04). Further ANCOVA suggested that growth in phonological processing was associated with significant differences among conditions for all three academic measures: word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension.

Anchoring, Activation, and the Construction of Values

Anchoring is a pervasive judgment bias in which decision makers are systematically influenced by random and uninformative starting points. While anchors have been shown to affect a broad range of judgments including answers to knowledge questions, monetary evaluations, and social judgments, the underlying causes of anchoring have been explored only recently. We suggest that anchors affect judgments by increasing the availability and construction of features that the anchor and target hold in common and reducing the availability of features of the target that differ from the anchor. We test this notion of anchoring as activation in five experiments that examine the effects of several experimental manipulations on judgments of value and belief as well as on measures of cognitive processes. Our results indicate that prompting subjects to consider features of the item that are different from the anchor reduces anchoring, while increasing consideration of similar features has no effect. The anchoring-as-activation approach provides a mechanism for debiasing anchoring and also points to a common mechanism underlying anchoring and a number of other judgment phenomena.

Emotional and Cognitive Processing in a Trauma Disclosure Paradigm

We previously reported that in a population ofhealthy students, those able to involve themselvesdeeply and establish cognitive change during a 3-weekemotional disclosure exercise showed the greatest immunologic changes as reflected inEpstein-Barr virus antibody titer decrements. Thisreport examines the process components of thisthree-session verbal disclosure paradigm to clarify themechanisms by which disclosure may be related to changes inaffect, cognitive processing, and resolution of thestressor. Seventy-six healthy college undergraduateswere randomized to a three session 20-minute verbal disclosure induction in the presence of anexperimenter or to an assessment-only control group.Measures of mood were obtained by self-report at eachdisclosure session, and a measure of cognitiveprocessing of the stressor was obtained following thefirst disclosure and 1 week following the thirddisclosure. Taped disclosure sessions were rated forlevel of involvement in the session, and transcripts ofthe tapes were also rated for total word count.Individuals participating in the disclosure interventionshowed an increase in negative mood within the firstsession with a recovery of mood by the last session. Levels of intrusive thought decreased in alldisclosure subjects over the course of the study, ascompared to the controls whose levels of intrusivethought stayed the same. A model was tested predicting stressor resolution, and cognitive andaffective changes from process variables, includingdepth of involvement, quantity of expression (total wordcount), and total arousal of negative mood in alldisclosures. Greater depth of involvement significantlypredicted insight and greater recovery of mood by theend of the study. In contrast, use of more words duringdisclosure predicted higher levels of intrusion and of negative mood at the end of the study. Thesefindings suggest that involvement in the disclosureprocess is a key feature in resolution of a stressful ortraumatic event, and that it may function independently of affective arousal. In addition, submittinga traumatic event to a linguistic context itself did notseem to be the critical element in facilitatingintegration and assimilation.

Neuropsychological Functioning in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Comparison

Persons with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) (n = 30), individuals who had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury with postconcussive symptoms (MTBI) (n = 33), and healthy controls (n = 20), who were age-and education-matched, were compared on measures of complex information processing, attention/concentration, memory, and higher-order cognitive processes. MTBI and CFS patients demonstrated a similar deficit in complex information processing and verbal learning. Overall, however, individuals who suffered a MTBI demonstrated a greater degree of impairment than did individuals with CFS and healthy controls. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.

Language, Achievement, and Cognitive Processing in Psychiatrically Disturbed Children with Previously Identified and Unsuspected Language Impairments

This study examined the language, achievement, and cognitive characteristics of 380 children, aged 7 to 14 years, consecutively referred to child psychiatric services. Among those children referred solely for psychiatric problems, 40% had a language impairment that had never been suspected. Children with previously identified and unsuspected language impairments were similar with respect to receptive and expressive language and on measures of cognitive processing. Although both groups of children with language impairments exhibited poorer academic achievement than children with normal language, children with previously identified language impairments had the lowest achievement. The milder achievement problems of children with unsuspected language impairment may explain why their problems had not been suspected. Both the clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. Heightened awareness concerning the high frequency of language impairment and other cognitive processing problems in children referred for psychiatric assessment and treatment should lead to more systematic examination of language functioning and evaluation of the impact of language and communication functioning on therapeutic outcomes.

Language, Achievement, and Cognitive Processing in Psychiatrically Disturbed Children with Previously Identified and Unsuspected Language Impairments

This study examined the language, achievement, and cognitive characteristics of 380 children, aged 7 to 14 years, consecutively referred to child psychiatric services. Among those children referred solely for psychiatric problems, 40% had a language impairment that had never been suspected. Children with previously identified and unsuspected language impairments were similar with respect to receptive and expressive language and on measures of cognitive processing. Although both groups of children with language impairments exhibited poorer academic achievement than children with normal language, children with previously identified language impairments had the lowest achievement. The milder achievement problems of children with unsuspected language impairment may explain why their problems had not been suspected. Both the clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. Heightened awareness concerning the high frequency of language impairment and other cognitive processing problems in children referred for psychiatric assessment and treatment should lead to more systematic examination of language functioning and evaluation of the impact of language and communication functioning on therapeutic outcomes.

The relationship of cognitive processes and ego development with adjustment to chronic pain

The objectives of the present study are to investigate the interrelations of measures of adjustment and cognitive processes and to investigate the role of an understudied variable, ego development, in adjustment to chronic pain. Bivariate correlation analyses based upon 66 patients with chronic pain conditions corroborate predictions of significant overlap between measures of psychological adjustment and certain measures of cognitive processes, while controlling for pain duration and severity. In addition, canonical correlation analyses demonstrated a compelling 0.89 correlation between composites of psychological adjustment and a set of predictors that include cognitive processes and ego development. Although ego development did not provide a significant amount of unique variance to the overall relationship between psychological adjustment and the set of cognitive process predictors, it appears that features of ego development are captured by the measures of cognitive processes. Hence, there is some theoretical support for the way levels of ego development are expressed in thought patterns.

A validation test of a message elaboration measure

This report is on the development and testing of a message elaboration measure. The reliability of the message elaboration scale is high μ = .86 to .94 over several studies. Confirmatory factor analytic procedures support the structure of the scale. Patterns of correlations with existing measures of cognitive processes also support the validity of the message elaboration measure.