Nonverbal Measures Research Articles

Age and experience influence different verbal and nonverbal measures of children's scripts for the zoo

Age and experience are usually confounded in developmental research. In the present study, age and experience were quantified more precisely to determine whether each of them, controlling the other, was significant in estimating various measures of children's scripts for the zoo. Children (3- to 12-year-olds) were interviewed about the zoo before and after a group of them went to the zoo. Experience was the best predictor of the number of propositions children stated about the zoo. Whereas experience predicted tense use before, age predicted tense use after the zoo trip. The complexity of children's scripts (i.e., number of optionals and conditionals) depended on both age and experience. Children's photographs of the zoo served as a nonverbal assessment, and the percentage of animal photographs was predicted by age. The results suggested that script development is not complete by 7 years of age. Age and experience predict different measures of script knowledge.

Measuring movement-exacerbated pain in cognitively impaired frail elders.

Prior research examining the utility of nonverbal measures of pain in persons with cognitive impairments has focused on acute procedurally-induced phasic pain (i.e., venipuncture and needle injections). The goal of the current project was to examine the utility of both self-report and nonverbal measures of pain in frail elders experiencing exacerbations of chronic musculoskeletal pain. These were assumed to be more representative of the day-to-day pain experience of elderly patients. Participants were 58 frail elders, 29 of whom had been found to have significant cognitive impairments. All were filmed as they undertook a series of structured activities (e.g., walking and reclining), and pain was assessed using self-report. Trained coders identified the incidence of pain-related behaviors using the videotapes. The various pain measures (i.e., self-report and nonverbal indices) were compared across both patient groups and the several activities. Consistent with our hypotheses, more pain was identified (using both self-report and nonverbal measures) when patients engaged in more physically demanding activities. Facial reactions varied as a function of patient cognitive status, with those participants who were cognitively impaired more responsive. Of the various nonverbal indices that we examined, guarded behavior appeared to be especially sensitive. The various pain indices were only modestly correlated with one another. This study supports the validity of self-report and behavioral measures of pain in frail elders with and without cognitive impairments. Each of the measures used contributed different information to pain assessment, suggesting that investigations of pain in elders with cognitive impairments should employ varying types of pain assessment tools.

The Nonverbal Assessment of Personality in Five Cultures

The Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire, a structured nonverbal measure of Murray’s needs, and the Personality Research Form, a standard verbal measure of the same traits, were administered to respondents in five countries: Canada, England, the Netherlands, Norway, and Israel. Analysis of the nonverbal scales showed generally good levels of internal consistency, reliability, and convergent validity when compared against their verbal counterparts. Furthermore, meta-analyses of factor structure of both the nonverbal and verbal inventories showed a very clear organization to the personality traits assessed. The factors, based on data combined across cultures, resembled the Big Five factors of personality.

Psychometric Properties of the Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire in Korea

The psychometric properties of the Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (NPQ) were investigated using a sample of 221 Korean respondents. First, estimates of internal-consistency reliability for scores on the NPQ scales were found to be comparable to those reported from North American samples. Second, a factor analysis of the NPQ scales showed, as expected, that five factors resembling the Big Five can be recovered from the NPQ scales. Finally, the size and the pattern of correlations between NPQ scales and several external criteria were similar to previous findings involving traditional verbal questionnaires. Based on the evidence indicated above, it was concluded that the applicability of the NPQ in Korea is quite promising. Theoretical and practical implications of recovering the Big Five factors from a completely nonverbal measure of personality also were discussed.

Speed and context: the effect of a sentence prime on naming speed in children with language impairment

Nineteen pre-school children with language impairment participated in a computerized naming task. The naming procedure involved two conditions, one unprimed where the child had to name a colour picture appearing on the screen as fast as possible and one primed where the picture was preceded by an uncompleted sentence. Response times were significantly shorter in the primed condition compared to the unprimed condition. There was a tendency that the ability to benefit from a semantic-syntactic prime was more closely linked to the participants' results on verbal measures than on non-verbal measures. Naming speed in the primed condition or the unprimed condition was not found to be linked to non-verbal measures including a speed component. Results are discussed in relation to current research, and methodological issues are highlighted.

Structural brain correlates of verbal and nonverbal fluency measures in Alzheimer's disease.

This study examined the relationships between regional brain volumes and semantic, phonological, and nonverbal fluency in 32 participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Object but not animal semantic fluency correlated with frontal and temporal gray matter volumes. Phonological fluency was not significantly associated with any brain volume examined. Nonverbal fluency was selectively associated with bilateral frontal gray matter volumes. Hippocampal volumes, although markedly reduced in these patients, were not related to any of the fluency measures. Results lend evidence to the importance of the frontal lobes in the directed generation of nonverbal and verbal exemplars by AD patients. Furthermore, both left- and right-hemisphere regions contribute to the generation of verbal and nonverbal exemplars.

Structural brain correlates of verbal and nonverbal fluency measures in Alzheimer's disease.

Structural brain correlates of verbal and nonverbal fluency measures in Alzheimer's disease.

Strategic processing and episodic memory impairment in obsessive compulsive disorder.

There is evidence that nonverbal memory problems in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are mediated by impaired strategic processing. Although many studies have found verbal memory to be normal in OCD, these studies did not use tests designed to stress organizational strategies. This study examined verbal and nonverbal memory performance in 33 OCD patients and 30 normal control participants with the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and the California Verbal Learning Test. OCD patients were impaired on verbal and nonverbal measures of organizational strategy and free recall. Multiple regression modeling indicated that free recall problems in OCD were mediated by impaired organizational strategies used during learning trials. Therefore, verbal and nonverbal episodic memory deficits in OCD are affected by impaired strategic processing. Results are consistent with neurobiological models proposing frontal-striatal system dysfunction in OCD.

Prenatal consultation after a fetal anomaly scan: videotaped exploration of physician's attitude and patient's satisfaction

The main aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the physician's attitude (using the non-verbal Global Affective Measure of the Roter Analaysis System and the Counselor Rating Form-short version) and the satisfaction of the pregnant women with the prenatal consultation. A secondary aim was to evaluate the women's recall of essential information (i.e. location, severity, prognosis and cause of the anomaly). To this end, 24 prenatal consultations (pregnant women, partners and physicians) were videotaped following a fetal anomaly scan, and a few days later, the pregnant women completed questionnaires to assess their perception of the physician's attitude and their satisfaction with the consultation and the extent to which they could recall the essentials of the information given about the fetal anomaly. In descending order, the physician's dominance/assertiveness (i.e. being self-confident and decisive) (assessment of the videotapes by two psychologists), trustworthiness (women's report) and expertise were significantly positively associated with the women's overall satisfaction, i.e. satisfaction with the information given and affective behaviour on the part of the physician during the prenatal consultation. All the women (n=24) recalled the essentials of the information given about the location of the fetal anomaly. The majority of them correctly reproduced the severity, the prognosis and the cause of the anomaly. Our findings indicate that women in whom a fetal anomaly has been detected derive particular benefit from a self-confident, decisive, expert and trustworthy physician.

An examination of verbal working memory capacity in children with specific language impairment.

This study investigated verbal working memory capacity in children with specific language impairment (SLI). The task employed in this study was the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT) developed by Gaulin and Campbell (1994). A total of 40 school-age children participated in this investigation, including 20 with SLI and 20 normal language (NL) age-matched controls. Results indicated that the SLI and NL groups performed similarly in terms of true/false comprehension items, but that the children with SLI evidenced significantly poorer word recall than the NL controls, even when differences in nonverbal cognitive scores were statistically controlled. Distinct patterns of word-recall errors were observed for the SLI and NL groups, as well as different patterns of associations between CLPT word recall and performance on nonverbal cognitive and language measures. The findings are interpreted within the framework of a limited-capacity model of language processing.

Use of Nonverbal Measures of Intelligence in Identification of Culturally Diverse Gifted Students in Rural Areas

To identify culturally diverse, potentially gifted students in rural areas the Culture-Fair Intelligence Test, the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices, and the Naglieri Nonverb Abilities Test were administered to 189 students enrolled in Grades 3 through 8 at a rural elementary school. Scores from these three tests are reported, and their usefulness in the identification of gifted children is discussed.

Simulation, Theory‐Theory and Cognitive Penetration: No ‘Instance of the Fingerpost’

In this paper it is argued that studies involving subjects who attempt to verbally predict the outcome of experiments concerning unexpected and surprising psychological processes do not constitute a critical test of simulation theories. The failure of ‘observer‐subjects’ to predict the outcome of such experiments does not demonstrate that their anticipatory abilities are ‘cognitively penetrable’ and thus based upon theory, as Nichols, Stich, Leslie and Klein (1996) maintain. This is because such studies are based upon the doubtful assumption that our ability to verbally predict another’s behaviour is a reliable measure of our ability to anticipate it. It is suggested that studies involving nonverbal measures of our anticipatory capacities would constitute a more decisive test of simulation theory.

At risk for language disorders? Correlates and course of language disorders in preschool children born at risk.

The language abilities of 324 children of an at-risk population were investigated at age 2 and 4.5 y. Modified research criteria of the ICD-10 for specific developmental disorders of speech and language were applied. Frequencies between 4% and 7%, depending on age and type of disorder, were diagnosed among children whose performance on the language measure was only 1 instead of ICD-10's 2 SD below group mean, but the discrepancy measure of 1 SD between non-verbal language score and language measure was retained. Psychosocial aspects of a child's environment proved to be better predictors of later language disorders than obstetric complications. Stability of specific language disorders was on the whole fairly low, but children who perform below age level on language measures remained at risk. Gender differences are almost compensated by the age 4.5 y.

Identifiers of predominantly Spanish-speaking children with language impairment.

The purpose of this study was to identify a set of measures that would discriminate 31 predominantly Spanish-speaking children with normal language (NL children) from 31 children with language impairment (LI children). The LI children were identified as such by experienced, bilingual (Spanish/English), ASHA-certified, speech-language pathologists who were currently seeing the children in their caseloads. Children ranged in age from 5 to 7 years and were matched for age, gender, and school. Additionally, nonverbal cognitive measures assured that they did not differ significantly intellectually. Measures of vocabulary, novel bound-morpheme learning skills, and language form were randomly administered to all children. Further, parents responded to questions about their perceptions of their children's speech and language skills and family history of speech and language problems. A stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that 4 measures discriminated the groups of children with a sensitivity of 91.3% and a specificity of 100% (p < .0001): parental report of the child's speech and language skills, number of errors per T-unit, mean length per T-unit, and family history of speech and language problems. A second discriminant analysis indicated that the sensitivity and specificity could be maintained when only the first 2 measures were included. Confirmatory discriminant analyses of the 2- and 4-measure models indicated that the discriminant accuracy was stable on an independent sample.

Anxiety and cognitive performance in adolescent women with disruptive behavior disorders.

Comparing 36 disruptive behavior-disordered and 40 normal female adolescents, we found higher levels of anxiety and poorer performance on a measure of verbal fluency in the clinical sample. No group differences were found on a nonverbal measure of reflectivity nor on a measure of interpersonal cognitive problem solving. Nor was evidence found for an hypothesized anxiety-related performance decrement among disruptive behavior-disordered youth. However, anxiety induction facilitated performance across groups on interpersonal cognitive problem solving.

CERAD Praxis Memory and Recognition in Relation to Other Measures of Memory

Free Recall and Recognition memory of the CERAD (The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) Constructional Praxis task is investigated as adjunctive nonverbal memory measures to the CERAD Neuropsychological battery. Participants were administered an expanded CERAD neuropsychological battery which included Free Recall of the Constructional Praxis task. Significant correlations were observed between the Constructional Praxis Free Recall and both memory and visuospatial measures, however, correlations with memory measures were significantly higher. Constructional Praxis Free Recall was a significant predictor of diagnosis resulting in high sensitivity and specificity for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (n = 88) versus Normal Controls (n = 83) with an overall hit rate of 88%. Results suggest that the Constructional Praxis Free Recall procedure is a useful addition to the CERAD neuropsychological battery. Normative data for clinical use is presented for Constructional Praxis Free Recall, as well as a Constructional Praxis Recognition memory procedure which was administered to a subsample of the normal group.

Developmental Data for the Porteus Maze Test

The Porteus Maze Test (PMT) has remained an underutilized neuropsychological procedure despite its history as a useful nonverbal measure of executive function ability and of general adaptational capacity. In order to provide contemporary performance standards for this instrument, the Vineland Revision form of the mazes was administered to 340 participants including groups of elementary and middle-school children and a university undergraduate sample, ranging in age from 7 to 21 years. There were weak associations between maze performance and IQ and SES, as well as a slight performance advantage for males. Performance increased with chronological age and educational level, and the data suggested plateaus at certain ages. The internal consistency estimate was good (Cronbach's alpha = .81). These data provide contemporary performance standards for this instrument. In addition, they suggest that the ability tapped by the PMT develops in relation to other executive function measures. The weak relationship with IQ corroborates Porteus' original observations regarding the relative independence of planning ability and verbally weighted IQ measures.

Children's Understanding of TV Advertising: Effects of Age, Gender, and Parental Influence

Parents, consumer organizations, and policy makers are generally concerned about effects of TV advertising directed towards children. These effects might be mediated by children's understanding of TV advertising, that is their ability to distinguish between TV programmes and commercials and their comprehension of advertising intent. In this paper, we investigate children's understanding of TV advertising, using verbal and non-verbal measurements. The sample consists of 153 Dutch children, ranging from 5 to 8 years old, and their parents. The results based on non-verbal measures suggest that most children are able to distinguish commercials from programmes and that they have some insight into advertising intent. The results based on verbal measures are not as conclusive; the percentage of children who show understanding of TV advertising is then substantially lower. Effects of age, gender, and parental influence are assessed using MURALS, a regression analysis technique for categorical and continuous variables, and CHAID, a technique for identifying homogeneous segments on the basis of the relationship between categorical dependent and explanatory variables. The age of a child turns out to have a positive effect. The effects of gender and parent- child interaction are rather small, both for verbal and for non-verbal measures of understanding of TV advertising. A high level of parental control of TV viewing may result in lower understanding of TV advertising. Implications for consumer policy and directions for future research are discussed.

Prenatal alcohol exposure and communication, behavior, and nonverbal intelligence of 3 school-age children.

Associations of prenatal alcohol exposure in speech, language, behavioral, and intellectual development were investigated in three school-aged children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, accompanied by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Each child showed similar patterns of moderate-to-severe dysfunctional behavior; however, their scores on speech, language and nonverbal intellectual measures were highly variable.

The relation of joint attention at 13 months to subsequent language, verbal IQ and nonverbal IQ measures through middle childhood

The relation of joint attention at 13 months to subsequent language, verbal IQ and nonverbal IQ measures through middle childhood