Nonverbal Ability Test Research Articles

The Relationship between General Ability Using the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) and Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) Reading Achievement

The relationship between ability measured nonverbally and reading achievement was assessed to determine whether there were developmental differences in the correlations between the variables and to determine the size of the coefficient. It was previously suggested that the relationship between reading and intelligence is not a strong one and that the correlations change considerably across the K through 12th-grade interval. The present study involved approximately 22,000 children who were administered a nonverbal measure of ability called the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) and measures of reading included in the Stanford Achievement Test Ninth Edition (SAT-9). Results demonstrated that the NNAT was strongly correlated with the SAT-9 and that the overall correlation with Total Reading was large (.56). The hypothesis that ability and reading correlations change considerably across grades K-12 was not supported, but the view that intelligence as measured by a nonverbal test and reading are strongly related was supported.

Comparison of White, African American, Hispanic, and Asian children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test.

This study examined differences between 3 matched samples of White (n = 2,306) and African American (n = 2,306), White (n = 1,176) and Hispanic (n = 1,176), and White (n = 466) and Asian (n = 466) children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1997a). The groups were selected from 22,620 children included in the NNAT standardization sample and matched on geographic region, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and type of school setting (public or private). There was only a small difference between the NNAT scores for the White and African American samples (d ratio = .25) and minimal differences between the White and Hispanic (d ratio = .17) and between the White and Asian (d ratio = .02) groups. The NNAT was moderately correlated with achievement for the total sample and correlated similarly with achievement for the White and ethnic minority groups. The median correlation of NNAT with reading was .52 and NNAT with math was .63 across the samples. Results suggest that the NNAT scores have use for fair assessment of White and minority children.

Assessing the verbal and nonverbal ability of visually impaired adults

Following earlier work evaluating numeracy and literacy tests (Reid,1994), this study employs the same methodology to evaluate some mainstream tests of verbal and nonverbal ability. The objective of each evaluation is to determine the utility of each test in the vocational evaluation of visually impaired adults. The criteria employed in the evaluation of each test and the rationale behind their selection are delineated. Results, showing the outcome of each evaluation on each criterion, are presented in tabular form. The implications of the results for their potential application to visually impaired populations are discussed. It is argued that the conclusions drawn from these evaluations enable recommendations to be made concerning the inclusion of individual test packages in a vocational assessment service for visually impaired adults.

Auditory inspection time and intelligence: What is the direction of causation?

Inspection time (IT) is an index of speed of perceptual processing that correlates at moderate levels with tests of mental ability. A key issue has been the question of the direction of causation: is IT causal to individual differences in intellectual ability, or is a fast IT a consequence of having a high IQ? The direction of causation was assessed by administering auditory inspection time (AIT) tests and tests of verbal and nonverbal ability to 104 school children at age 1 1, and 2 years later at 13 years. Three competing structural equation models were tested by using the cross-lagged panel data: that AIT at age 11 causes later IQ; that IQ at age 11 causes later AIT; and that there is equal reciprocal causation. Various goodness-of-fit indexes indicated that the first model was the most acceptable. AIT accounted for about 6% of the variance in cognitive ability 2 years later

Do tests of nonverbal decoding ability measure sensitivity to nonverbal cues?

Compared to efficient decoders (who excel on tests of nonverbal decoding ability), inefficient decoders may (1) use a restricted repertoire of nonverbal cues; (2) use the same repertoire but be less sensitive to the cues; or (3) be more sensitive to cues of high informative utility and less sensitive to cues of lesser utility. Subjects were asked to identify romantic heterosexual couples in photographs. Potential cues were generated by think aloud protocols (Study 1); their presence and informative utility were determined through ratings (Study 2). Study 3 estimated cues' influence on “couple” decisions. Decisions were affected by all the informative cues (“proximity,” “contact,” and “context”) with efficient decoders being more sensitive to “proximity” than inefficient decoders. However, inefficient decoders weremore sensitive than efficient decoders to uninformative cues suggesting couples' similarity. Hence, the present test does not measure sensitivity (Hypotheses 1 and 2) but measures sensitivity-tuning (Hypothesis 3).

Intelligence and auditory discrimination: Separating processing speed and fidelity of stimulus representation

Significant associations have been reported between several different measures of auditory information-processing ability and measures of cognitive ability derived from IQ-type tests. The explanation for these correlations was originally based on the hypothesis that brighter individuals were relatively fast in their processing of auditory information. However, there is a growing body of evidence that supports a competing hypothesis, viz. that the auditory processing-ability—intelligence association is explained by the fact that individuals with higher ability scores have superior pitch discrimination ability. Using structural equation-modeling techniques, this study attempts to test these hypotheses. Three psychophysical auditory processing tests, which varied in the degree to which they emphasized speed of processing and pitch discrimination, and tests of verbal and nonverbal ability were administered to 108 thirteen-year-olds. All three auditory tests were significantly correlated with the IQ-type tests. Factor analysis of the three auditory tests revealed two underlying factors, which appeared to reflect speed of processing and pitch discrimination abilities. A well-fitting structural equation model suggested that information- processing speed and pitch discrimination ability were both significantly associated with nonverbal and verbal IQs, and that speed was the more important factor.

Assessment and educational implications of albinism

Forty-seven visually impaired albino schoolchildren were identified from the Victorian school population. 28 (aged 7-18) who had had a standard ophthalmic examination including the LH5 Visual Acuity Test for Contrast Sensitivity agreed to try a battery of educational tests in addition. The tests were the Non-Verbal Ability Test, Visual Motor Integration Test, Torch Reading, reading miscue analysis and reading of test to measure sustained near visual acuity. The most useful of these was the Non-Verbal Ability Test (NAT) which indicated that this group of albinos was of above average cognitive ability. This was independent of the findings on ophthalmic examination. The NAT is also useful in identifying relative strengths and weaknesses in information processing abilities in albino subjects.

Auditory inspection time, intelligence and pitch discrimination

Irwin (1984) suggested that the correlation between auditory inspection time (AIT) and IQ was due to AIT being related to pitch discrimination ability. Previous forms of the AIT test have confounded temporal resolution speed and pitch discrimination. In this study, 59 undergraduates and 119 schoolchildren were tested on a new AIT test, pitch discrimination tests and verbal and nonverbal mental ability tests. AIT and IQ correlated at −.45 (verbal) and −.27 (nonverbal) in undergraduates and at −.36 (verbal) and −.26(nonverbal) in children. There was a small but significant correlation between pitch discrimination and IQ scores in children but not in undergraduates. Pitch discrimination tended to correlate with AIT in children but not in undergraduates. Children with high verbal ability appear to have superior auditory inspection times and pitch discrimination abilities. When the effects of pitch discrimination were partialled out, the AIT-IQ correlations were altered very little in either sample. We conclude that the AIT-IQ correlation is due to the AIT being an index of information intake speed. AIT appears not to develop (i.e., to decrease) from age 12.5 to 21.

Verbal deficits in Klinefelter (XXY) adults living in the community.

Forty-two adult males--10 with Klinefelter's syndrome (karyotype XXY), 17 with normal sex chromosome karyotype (XY) but with physical signs of hypogonadism, and 15 presumed to be normal both chromosomally and hormonally--completed tests of Verbal and Nonverbal ability. It was predicted: a) that the XXY group would perform more poorly than the other two groups on tests of Verbal ability, and b) that the XY, hypogonadal group would perform more poorly than the others on tests of Non-verbal ability. The first hypothesis was supported. However, in spite of measurable verbal deficits, the XXY men (whose parents were more highly educated than those of the other two groups) did not appear to be underachievers. Rather, they were, in general, as well educated, as likely to be employed, and of socioeconomic status equivalent to that of the other men in the study. These findings are discussed briefly in terms of implications for early childhood education and genetic counselling. The second hypothesis was not supported: this is attributed to presumed heterogeneity of etiology of hypogonadism in the XY, hypogonadal group.

Sociocultural Differences in Examinees' Attitudes Toward Scholastic Ability Exams

The major aim of the present study was threefold: (a) to compare the test attitudes and perceptions o f examinees of varying sociocultural group membership toward verbal and nonverbal standardized ability tests; (b) to determine the degree of covariation between test attitudes and test scores; and (c) to delineate the properties and potential applications of a test attitude or feedback inventory specifically designed to assess examinees’ perceptions of key situational variables in the test context. The feedback inventory was administered to a sample of 259 seventh grade students in Israel immediately following standardized group scholastic ability testing procedures. On the whole, few meaningful group differences in test attitudes were observed by social class, ethnicity, or sex. However, a nonverbal test was generally rated more favorably than a verbal test, among varying sociocultural and sex subgroups. Considered together, test attitude scales share a meaningful proportion o f variance with the test score on both verbal and nonverbal tests. However, in view o f the negligible ethnic and social class differences in test attitudes and the nonsignificant interaction between test attitudes and background variables, the data provide little support for the situational bias claim

Concurrent Validation of AH2 as a Brief Measure of Intelligence in Canadian University Students

The general ability test AH2 was administered to 130 undergraduate university students along with a multiple-choice vocabulary test and the Standard Progressive Matrices, a nonverbal ability test. AH2 scores were compared with British norms and intercorrelated with those of the other two tests. Norms and reliabilities for a Canadian university sample were reported. Some restriction of range was observed as compared to British norms but not enough to account for the low correlations with the other ability tests.

Reliability of the Standard Progressive Matrices Test for Hispanic and Anglo-American Children

The internal consistency reliability estimates of the Standard Progressive Matrices Test for 127 Hispanic and 103 Anglo-American sixth grade pupils were compared using Feldt's test of the equality of two reliability coefficients. These reliability estimates were comparable for Hispanic and Anglo-American pupils. Findings support the continued use of the test as a nonverbal ability test for students from culturally diverse backgrounds.

A cross-cultural test of the situational bias hypothesis: The israeli scene

The major aim of this study was to test the commonly held assumption, within the Israeli educational context, that the relatively poor mean performance of disadvantaged students on conventional ability tests is due, in part, to extraneous situational factors, systematically disadvantageous to their test performance. To that end, two controlled field experiments were conducted on independent samples of n = 288 and n = 48 elementary school pupils, respectively. The first experiment centered on the interaction between sociocultural group characteristics and each of two situational factors, namely, test atmosphere and examiner status, in affecting ability test performance. The second experiment explored the effects of test atmosphere per se on the nonverbal ability test scores of disadvantaged pupils. On the whole, this research provides evidence inconsistent with the situational bias hypothesis and does not support the assumption that disadvantaged children's ability test scores can be substantially improved by manipulating test atmosphere conditions. In view of the evidence showing that situational variables do not significantly bias testing results in favor of one group over another, it follows that current educational evaluation policies in Israel, relying heavily on the standardized ability tests results of disadvantaged groups, need not be changed.

Non-verbal Measures of Ability Within the Context of Ability Assessment

To provide a framework for our discussion of the use of non-verbal ability tests, I would like to precede my paper by a few general remarks concerning ability testing in the 1980s. Everything I am going to say does, in fact, apply to non-verbal tests, the same as it applies to other types of tests; and it certainly applies to the battery of non-verbal ability tests, the NAT, which the ACER will publish during the next 12 months.We cannot ignore the controversy which is going on around us. No one operates in a vacuum. No matter what our present personal attitude to the use of tests in assessment might be, nothing we do can be perceived in isolation from present, and for that matter past, debate in the field.We are finding ourselves at a point in time where there is widespread concern and often fierce debate about the use of standardized tests for the assessment of individual differences and the evaluation of programs.

Hearing loss and academic failure

Study was made of 97 children in remedial classes to see if a connection could be demonstrated between academic failure and a past or present hearing loss. Twenty-seven were found to have current losses; and 17 of these, plus a further 33, had a recorded history of defective hearing. Examination of school medical records, taken at random, of 100 children not needing remedial teaching showed only 13 had a history of hearing loss. Tests of non-verbal ability in the remedial group showed that a large number of these children were above average.

Some effects of an ACTH 4–9 analog (Org 2766) on human performance

The effects (on human beings) of the ACTH analog Org 2766 were investigated for a range of performance tests: complicated serial reaction task, running memory span, verbal learning and non-verbal mental ability tests (closure flexibility and non-verbal abstraction). Subjective ratings on feelings were taken and heart rate was measured. Only the 30-min reaction task produced significant drug effects. In this task performance tends to deteriorate as a function of time on task. During the test period there is a gradual increase in the number of lapses in performance due to moments of inattention. This deterioration is counteracted by the ACTH 4–9 analog, a result also found in a previous study using ACTH 4–10 (Org OI63). Thus ACTH fragments which are devoid of endocrine effects seem to have a beneficial effect on goal-directed motivation oriented on the requirements of the task.

Contribution of a Non-Verbal General Ability Test to the Educational Assessment of Pupils in the Cross-Cultural Setting of the Canadian North

AbstractThis study examines the Progressive Matrices and selected sub-tests of the Metropolitan Achievement Test Battery to discover if the Progressive Matrices can contribute to the educational assessment of pupils in a crosscultural setting. Pupils from Grades 2 and 4 in schools in the Mackenzie District wrote the above tests during the spring term of 1966, and these test results are the raw data for this study. Factor analysis is used to analyze the data and the resulting factors interpreted in favor of the use of the Progressive Matrices in this setting.