Portable Rod Research Articles

Field dependence-independence in second-language acquisition: Some forgotten aspects.

This study examined the role of sex and intelligence in the relationship between ficid dependence-independenceand second language acquisition for a sample of 383 students (187 girls and 196 boys) aged between 13 and i6. The Portable Rod and Frame Test (PRFT) and rhe Embedded Figures Test (EFE) were used lo evaluate cognitive style. A two-waycovarianceanalysis, with intelligenceas the covariate, wa.semployedto investigate differences in second language achievemeni between students classified a.s either fielddependent or field-independent. A cluster analysis using z seores was examinedto study the performance of subjects classified as ejiher field-dependent or field-independent accordingto scores obtained un the FF1’and the PREI’(“coincident” subjects) and Ihose classifiedas field-dependentin une test and field-independentin the uther (“non-cuincident” subjects). No statistically signiflcant differences between the twu groups were obtained when cognitive style was defined by scores un the PRFT. When fleid dependenceindependence was measured by scores on the EFT, field-independent giris perfurmed betier than fleld-dependent giris (p ~ .005), but this uutcumewas nut observed fur buys. These results suggest a differential cuntributiun of Ihe “perceptive” and “cugnitive” components of field dependence-independenceand a modulating role by sex.

Performance on the Portable Rod and Frame Test Predicts Variation in Learning the Kayak Roll

Expert performers in sports that include a high proportion of closed skills have often been found to score relatively high in field independence tests; a field-independent cognitive style may be advantageous for learning and performance of closed skills. The relationship between field dependence-independence (measured on a Portable Rod and Frame Test) and the acquisition of a kayak skill was examined. Undergraduates (6 men, 11 women; M age=21.6 yr., SD=3.2) who had no previous kayaking experience participated. Participants completed a structured teaching session (2 hr.) designed to develop three key subskills necessary for the kayak roll. Number of trials taken to consistently perform the underwater orientation and paddle movement subskills and duration of practice taken to develop the upper/lower body separation subskill as well as participants' ability to complete the roll were assessed. Field independence was associated with better performance of subskills and skill acquisition tests. Learners with greater field independence may have an advantage when acquiring sport skills that require cognitive restructuring and a strong reliance on kinesthetic and proprioceptive feedback.

Internal-External Dimension of Epistemic and Personality Factors and a Measure of Achievement Motivation

This study examined associations among measures of epistemic orientation, field dependence-independence, locus of control, and the achievement motive. Subjects were assessed using the Psycho-Epistemological Profile, the Portable Rod and Frame Test, Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and the Mehrabian Achieving Scale. Analysis of the correlation matrix indicated significant relations among Internal Epistemic Orientation, Field Independence, and Achievement Motive. A subsequent principal components factor analysis showed that the measure of achievement motive had a significant negative loading on the factor for an external locus of control. The implications were discussed.

Field Dependence-Independence in Second-Language Acquisition: Some Forgotten Aspects

This study examined the role of sex and intelligence in the relationship between field dependence-independence and second language acquisition for a sample of 383 students (187 girls and 196 boys) aged between 13 and 16. The Portable Rod and Frame Test (PRFT) and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) were used to evaluate cognitive style. A two-way covariance analysis, with intelligence as the covariate, was employed to investigate differences in second language achievement between students classified as either field-dependent or field-independent. A cluster analysis using z scores was examined to study the performance of subjects classified as either field-dependent or field-independent according to scores obtained on the EFT and the PRFT (“coincident” subjects) and those classified as field-dependent in one test and field-independent in the other (“non-coincident” subjects). No statistically significant differences between the two groups were obtained when cognitive style was defined by scores on the PRFT. When field dependence-independence was measured by scores on the EFT, field-independent girls performed better than field-dependent girls (p < .005), but this outcome was not observed for boys. These results suggest a differential contribution of the “perceptive” and “cognitive” components of field dependence-independence and a modulating role by sex.

The internal/external dimension in psychoepistemic orientation and measures of ability.

This study examined the associations of scores on the internal/external dimension of psychoepistemic style and measures of ability. Subjects were assessed using the portable rod and frame test, the Psycho-Epistemological Profile, and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. The grade point averages of the subjects were also recorded. A principal components factor analysis indicated that, while GPA was significantly loaded on both the internal and external orientation factors, the measure of analogical reasoning was significantly loaded on the internal orientation factor only. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Field Dependence and Body Balance

This study reports four points about the portable Rod and Frame Test performance of 30 Japanese women in terms of body balance. The primary findings using a stabilometer are: (a) field dependence correlated negatively with increased sway path within 1 min. both while a dot pattern as a visual stimulus was stationary and while it was moving. (b) Field dependence correlated positively with the difference in sway path between the two following phases, in one of which the subjects watched the horizontal visual movement to the right and in the other movement to the left. (c) Motion aftereffect had no direct and immediate influence on sway path, but rather a latent and long-term effect. And on a pedograph which measures the distribution of foot pressure and the shape of the sole, (d) field dependence correlated negatively with anterior positions of the center of foot pressure and with the proportion of the front part to the rear of the sole. Over-all, field dependence measured by the Rod and Frame Test seems to be associated with body posture when dot patterns are viewed.

Relationship between Two Different Measurements of Field-Dependence and Athletic Performance of Adolescents

Two different measures were used to test field dependence-independence, Group Hidden Figures Test and Portable Rod and Frame Test. The purpose of the study was to compare the advantages of these two measures in differentiating among adolescents who are active in individual and team sports and those who are not. 94 adolescent boys and girls were divided into three groups, as follows: 33 in individual sports, 31 in team sports, and 30 nonathletes. No correlation was found between the two measures. The Portable Rod and Frame Test was the better instrument for distinguishing among the groups. This test requires use of visual vs proprioceptive information to perceive the body's spatial orientation. The Group Hidden Figures Test requires more analytical intelligence. Since there are relationships among awareness of the body, spatial orientation, and physical activity of athletes, the Portable Rod and Frame Test seems to be more applicable to the task of distinguishing between and among athletes and nonathletes.

Cognitive style as related to emotional empathy

This study examined relationships among two measures of FDI (the hidden figure test (HFT) and the portable rod and frame test (PRFT) and a measure of interpersonal sensitivity (the questionnaire measure of emotional empathy (QMEE] in a group of dental hygiene students. All measures were administered to 44 dental hygiene students and 42 students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. While the dental hygiene students were more field independent than a previously reported normative sample (t = 24.6 p less than 0.002), they were not characteristically different than a representative group of college students on any of the measures. For students enrolled in the psychology course, but not the dental hygiene students, the more field independent students were, the less empathic they appeared to be. These results do not entirely support previous research indicating that dental hygiene students typically are more field independent.

Genetic influences on spatial ability: transmission in an extended kindred.

Transmission of six spatial tests, Card Rotations, Cube Comparisons, Group Embedded Figures, Hidden Patterns, Mental Rotations, and portable Rod and Frame, is examined among 73 members in four generations of an extended kindred. Nonadditive genetic variance is substantial for one of the six tests, Card Rotations. Whether this nonadditive genetic variance is due to a major autosomal gene is equivocal based on results from segregation and linkage analysis. There is no evidence for genetic variance for Mental Rotations or Hidden Patterns, in contrast to previous findings suggesting major gene involvement (Ashton et al., 1979). If spatial ability is due, in part, to an autosomal major gene, the gene has variable expression (reflected in different tests) or genetic heterogeneity is pronounced.

Dizziness and perceptual style.

This study tested the hypothesis that patients suffering from non-organic ('psychogenic') dizziness would score higher on Witkins' frame dependence test than a group of dizzy patients with peripheral organic damage. A computerized version of the portable rod and frame test was administered to a group of 10 chronic ENT patients with peripheral vestibular disease, 10 ENT patients with no detectable organic problems and 10 non-dizzy controls. Contrary to the hypothesis, the psychogenic group had less frame-dependent error than the peripheral group and less (though not significantly so) than the normal group. Four of the psychogenic group had very low frame dependence scores. The experience of dizziness may not be necessarily related to anxiety proneness and may be a function of an inhibitory autonomous perceptual style as well as one overly dependent on external cues.

Performance on the Rod and Frame Test for Men at Elevated Risk for Alcoholism and Controls: A Pilot Study

Performance scores on the portable Rod and Frame Test were not different for eight pairs of young men with and without an alcoholic close relative. Retesting both groups following placebo, 0.75, or 1.1 mL/kg of ethanol also revealed no significant group differences on this measure.

Measurement of Rod-and-Frame Test Performance

Data from 50 male and 50 female adult volunteers were analyzed for reliability and validity of three alternative scoring systems for the Rod and Frame Test, an absolute scoring system and two alternative algebraic scoring systems. Subjects took the Rod and Frame Test, Portable Rod and Frame Test, and the Embedded Figures Test. Absolute and algebraic frame-effect scores were reliable and valid. Rod-effect algebraic scores were less reliable and valid. Correlations were higher for females and correlations with the Embedded Figures Test were so low that the interchangeability of these field articulation measures is questionable.

Rate of optokinetic nystagmus to the left and right and performance on the portable Rod and Frame Test.

Deviations from the true vertical on the Rod and Frame Test were studied in relation to optokinetic nystagmus response during varied mental activities in 14 right-handed male college students. Judgment of the vertical was more accurate for 7 subjects whose frequency of optokinetic nystagmus was high or low in both directions than for those 7 whose optokinetic nystagmus frequency was high in one direction and low in the other. Asymmetries in the degree to which subjects' optokinetic nystagmus frequency was raised during periods when they were instructed to perform presumed left-hemisphere mental tasks were related to asymmetries in their Rod and Frame Test performance.

Perceptual Style and Ball Skill Acquisition

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between perceptual style (field dependence-independence) as measured by the portable rod and frame test and the learning of a ball catching task for three viewing time treatments. Two groups of subjects (N = 45) who satisfied the criteria for field dependence-independence were subdivided and randomly assigned to one of the three viewing time treatments. There were 15 subjects from each of the perceptual style classifications in each of the 150, 250, and 350 millisecond viewing time treatments. The hypothesis of a relationship between perceptual style and learning on the ball catching task was upheld for two of the viewing time treatments (150 and 250 milliseconds). The field independent subjects demonstrated a significantly greater rate and amount of learning than the field dependent subjects for these viewing time treatments. Both field dependent and field independent subjects demonstrated statistically significant improvements in learn...

Factor Analytic Study of the Embedded Figures and Rod and Frame Tests

154 first-year university students were administered marker tests for Guilford's Factors of Convergent Production of Figural Transformations, Cognition of Semantic Units, and Cognition of Figural Systems as well as Witkin's Embedded Figures Test and the Portable Rod and Frame Test. Scores in the test battery were factor analyzed to determine the equivalence of different measures of psychological differentiation. Results of the analysis indicated that the Embedded Figures scores correlated (—.52) with Convergent Production of Figural Transformations, whereas the Portable Rod and Frame scores did not load on any of the factors extracted.

Cognitive Styles of Children of Three Ethnic Groups in the United States

Children of three subcultural groups in the United States-Anglos, Blacks, and Mexican-Americans-were tested with the Portable Rod and Frame Test. The results showed that Black and Mexican-American children, and females in all three groups, scored in a significantly more field-dependent direction than Anglo children. The results confirmed previous findings that members of groups which emphasize respect for family and religious authority and group identity and which are characterized by shared-function family and friendship groups tend to be field-dependent in cognitive style. Members of groups which encourage questioning of convention and an individual identity and are characterized by formally organized family and friendship groups, on the other hand, tend to be more field-independent.

Psychological differentiation in heroin addicts.

Thirty male and 31 female heroin addicts were tested for field dependence using the Portable Rod and Frame Test. Scores were compared to results obtained by Oltman of a normal population. The addicts as a group were found to be more field-dependent than normals. The female addicts, however, were significantly more field-dependent than male addicts who, conversely, appeared similar to normal males. Both addict samples were characterized by marked variability, suggesting that heroin addicts represent a strongly heterogeneous population and not a homogeneous one as suggested by earlier studies of the disorder.

Field Dependence, Impulsivity, and Learning Disabilities

Twenty-seven boys with serious learning and behavioral disorders and 25 boys with moderate learning problems were evaluated in terms of constructs of “field dependence-independence” and “reflection-impulsivity” using a portable rod and frame test, a pattern walking test, and the Matching Familiar Figures Test. Compared to available normative data for normal-achieving children, LD boys were found to be highly field dependent; extreme LD boys were also impulsive. Field dependence associated with rapid response rate appears incompatible with success in most educational tasks. Analysis of children's perceptual and cognitive styles is proposed as a tentative but promising approach to understanding the educational problems of LD children.

Development and evaluation of a portable rod and frame test

There is evidence that an individual's ‘cognitive style’ is related to lateralization of function in the brain, and that this in turn is associated with characteristic EEG coherence spectra. We tested the hypothesis that field dependence (a measure of cognitive organization) and hand preference (a measure of functional organisation) relate to EEG coherence measures in a specific way. The predicted associations were based on the proposal that right preferent individuals have a more specific, and left preferents a more diffuse, system of functional units in the cortex.The association between alpha band resting EEG coherence (sampled on two occasions for both hemispheres from 12 right and 12 left preferent individuals), field dependence (Nyborg's criterion of frame dependence on a rod and frame test), and laterality scores (questionnaire and manual performance), was measured by Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W).Significant associations support the proposed model except for coherence within the left preferents' right hemisphere. It is argued that the right hemisphere is more specifically organised in strong sinistrals than the general model would predict.These and other results support the use of EEG coherence measures in the study of cerebral functional organisation.