Raven's Colored Matrices Research Articles

On the Issue of Uncovering Giftedness in Early Childhood

Abstract The research aim was to identify the capabilities and limitations of tests for uncovering giftedness. The sample consisted of 103 preschoolers and students of elementary school. A comparative analysis using methods “The Creative field” and Raven's Colored Matrices was carried out. The research allowed establishing a system of correlations between different methods, reflecting such factors as educability of a child, mastering a new activity and its successful performance according to various indicators. Thus, the correlations identified point to the presence of an intellectual component in the process of mastering a new activity, but Raven's test does not reflect the factor of activity development, which is supposed to be a significant characteristic of giftedness. So the research results dispute the validity of intellectual testing methods for uncovering child's giftedness and estimating prospects of its development.

Height gain after two-years-of-age is associated with better cognitive capacity, measured with Raven's coloured matrices at 15-years-of-age in Malawi.

Stunting is a measure of chronic undernutrition, and it affects approximately 160 million children worldwide. Cognitive development of stunted children is compromised, but evidence about the association between height gain in late childhood and adolescent cognitive capacity is scarce. We aimed to determine the association between height gains at different ages, including late childhood, and cognitive capacity at 15-years-of-age. We conducted a prospective cohort study in a rural African setting in Southern Malawi. The study cohort was enrolled between June 1995 and August 1996. It originally comprised mothers of 813 fetuses, and the number of children born live was 767. These children were followed up until the age of 15 years. The anthropometrics were measured at one and 24-months-of-age and 15-years-of-age, and cognitive capacity of participants was assessed at 15-years-of-age with Raven's Coloured Matrices score, mathematic test score, median reaction time (RT) (milliseconds) and RT lapses. The associations between growth and the outcome measures were assessed with linear regression. Raven's Coloured Matrices score was predicted by height gain between 24 months and 15-years-of-age (coefficient 0.85, P = 0.03) and (coefficient 0.69, P = 0.06), but not by earlier growth, when possible confounders were included in the model. The association weakened when school education was further added in the model (coefficient = 0.69, P = 0,060). In conclusion, in rural Malawi, better growth in late childhood is likely to lead to better cognitive capacity in adolescence, partly through more school education. In light of these results, growth promotion should not only be limited to early childhood.

Vocabulary is an appropriate measure of premorbid intelligence in a sample with heterogeneous educational level in Brazil.

Crystallized intelligence refers to one's knowledge base and can be measured by vocabulary tests. Fluid intelligence is related to nonverbal aspects of intelligence, depends very little on previously acquired knowledge, and can be measured by tests such as Block Design (BD) and Raven Colored Matrices (RCM). Premorbid intelligence quotient (IQ) refers to one's intellectual ability level previous to the onset of disorders like mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and it is important to estimate disease severity. The objective was to compare performance in tests that measure crystallized and fluid intelligence in healthy subjects and patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and AD. One hundred forty-four participants (aMCI (n = 38), AD (n = 45), and healthy controls (n = 61)) were submitted to neuropsychological tests (WAIS-III vocabulary, BD, and RCM). There were significant among groups, except for vocabulary, indicating a relative stability of crystallized intelligence in the continuum from normal to pathological cognitive decline. Vocabulary seems to be stable during the progression of the disease and useful as a measure of premorbid intelligence, that is, to estimate previous function in relation to the level of education and, as a collateral measure of cognition in people with low education.

Attentional WM is not necessarily specifically related with fluid intelligence: the case of smart children with ADHD symptoms

Executive functions and, in particular, Attentional (active) Working Memory (WM) have been associated with fluid intelligence. The association contrasts with the hypothesis that children with ADHD exhibit problems with WM tasks requiring controlled attention and may have a good fluid intelligence. This paper examines whether children who are intelligent but present ADHD symptoms fail in attentional WM tasks. The latter result would be problematic for theories assuming the generality of a strict relationship between intelligence and WM. To study these issues, a battery of tests was administered to a group of 58 children who all displayed symptoms of ADHD. All children were between the age of 8 and 11 years, and were described by their teachers as smart. Children were compared to a control group matched for age, schooling, and gender. The battery included a test of fluid intelligence (Raven's Coloured Matrices), and a series of visuospatial WM tasks. Results showed that children with ADHD were high in intelligence but significantly lower than the controls in WM tasks requiring high attentional control, whereas there was no difference in WM tasks requiring low attentional control. Furthermore, only high attentional control WM tasks were significantly related to Raven's performance in the control group, whereas all WM tasks were similarly related in the ADHD group. It is concluded that performance in high attentional control WM tasks may be related to fluid intelligence, but also to a specific control component that is independent of intelligence and is poor in children with ADHD.

Cognitive modifiability of children with developmental disabilities: A multicentre study using Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment—Basic program

The study aimed at exploring the effectiveness of cognitive intervention with the new “Instrumental Enrichment Basic” program (IE-basic), based on Feuerstein's theory of structural cognitive modifiability that contends that a child's cognitive functioning can be significantly modified through mediated learning intervention. The IE-basic progam is aimed at enhancing domain-general cognitive functioning in a number of areas (systematic perception, self-regulation abilities, conceptual vocabulary, planning, decoding emotions and social relations) as well as transferring learnt principles to daily life domains. Participants were children with DCD, CP, intellectual impairment of genetic origin, autistic spectrum disorder, ADHD or other learning disorders, with a mental age of 5–7 years, from Canada, Chile, Belgium, Italy and Israel. Children in the experimental groups ( N = 104) received 27–90 h of the program during 30–45 weeks; the comparison groups ( N = 72) received general occupational and sensory–motor therapy. Analysis of the pre- to post-test gain scores demonstrated significant ( p < 0.05) advantage of experimental over comparison groups in three WISC-R subtests (“Similarities”, “Picture Completion”, “Picture Arrangement”) and Raven Coloured Matrices. Effect sizes ranged from 0.3 to 0.52. Results suggest that it is possible to improve cognitive functioning of children with developmental disability. No advantage was found for children with specific aetiology. Greater cognitive gains were demonstrated by children who received the program in an educational context where all teachers were committed to the principles of mediated learning.

S-TOFHLA in mild Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment patients as a measure of functional literacy: Preliminary study

The greatest difficulty in diagnosing cognitive loss in our population is the diversity of its education which has a broad spectrum ranging from illiteracy, functional illiteracy and different degrees of literacy, even in those with the same level of schooling.ObjectivesTo verify whether there is impairment on the S-TOFHLA among individuals with AD and MCI compared with healthy controls, and to compare performance on the S-TOFHLA performance with neuropsychological tests and the scores achieved on the Raven’s Colored Matrices and Vocabulary and Block Design (WAIS-III) as a measure of estimated intellectual level.Methods59 subjects: controls (n=23; age 70.96±8.31y; schooling 10.2±5.87y; 6 men), MCI patients (n=11; age 74.18±8.12y; schooling 7.55±4.32y; 5 men) and AD patients (n=25; age 76.16±4.96y; schooling 7.32±4.78y; 10 men) were submitted to neuropsychological assessment, S-TOFHLA and functional evaluation.ResultsDifferences on BD, Raven and Estimated IQ were found between controls and MCI patients as well as controls and AD patients. On the S-TOFHLA, differences were found between MCI and AD patients, controls and AD patients, but not between control and MCI groups. S-TOFHLA performance correlated strongly with schooling and all neuropsychological tests, except Clock Drawing.ConclusionsThe S-TOFHLA seems to be a useful measure for determining the level of literacy in MCI patients, but not in AD patients. S-TOFHLA performance was more closely associated with neuropsychological test scores than were years of education and seems to be a good predictor of level of literacy. The Vocabulary subtest proved to be uninfluenced by the disease process in early stages and preserved in both MCI and AD patients, showing that semantic memory and crystallized intelligence are preserved.

Planning abilities of children aged 4 years and 9 months to 8 ½ years: Effects of age, fluid intelligence and school type on performance in the Tower of London test.

The present study investigated the relationship between age and one type of environmental factor, namely, type of school (i.e., private vs. public), and the development of mental planning ability, as measured by the Tower of London (TOL) test.MethodsParticipants comprised 197 public and 174 private school students, ranging in age from 4 years and 9 months to 8 years and 6 months. Besides the TOL test, students were administered Raven's Colored Matrices.ResultsResults confirmed the findings of previous studies that both age and school type are important predictors of mental planning. Furthermore, results also suggest that the relationship between type of school and mental planning ability cannot be accounted for by differences in students' fluid intelligence.ConclusionIn the present study, the TOL test continued to differentiate public from private school students, even after we controlled for the effect of differences on the Raven test.

Components of Item Difficulty of Raven's Matrices

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify and test item characteristics that predict the difficulty of items on Raven's Colored Matrices (CPM; 1965) and items on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM; 1965). CPM item characteristics were defined and rated; Rasch item difficulties were used as the dependent variable, with misfitting items omitted. The multiple R was .90 (.88 using stepwise prediction). When the same predictors were used with SPM items, the multiple R was .69. The results of this study are discussed with respect to cognitive processes and with respect to using item characteristics to create new test items.

Neuropsychological markers of dementia on visual-spatial tasks: a comparison between Alzheimer's type and vascular forms of dementia.

The incidence of the "closing-in" phenomenon and of the tendency to give "primitive answers" on the Raven's Colored Matrices was studied in 50 normal subjects and in two groups of Alzheimer's type (n = 41) and of vascular (n = 35) dementia patients, carefully matched as for the overall severity of dementia and the degree of visual-spatial impairment. The aims of this research were to determine if these patterns of behavior can be considered as neuropsychological markers of dementia and if their incidence is similar in the two dementia groups. Results show that both the closing-in phenomenon and the tendency to give globalistic and odd responses on the Raven's Colored Matrices are good markers of dementia and that, in particular, they point to a degenerative, rather than to a vascular form of dementia. From the clinical point of view, these data suggest that a qualitative analysis of the patient's behavior can increase the diagnostic efficacy of neuropsychological tests and that neuropsychological markers of dementia point more to Alzheimer's disease (considered as the most prototypic form of dementia) than to a vascular form of dementia even when the two groups of patients are well balanced in terms of visual-spatial impairment and the overall severity of dementia.

Focal brain lesions and intelligence: a study with a new version of Raven's Colored Matrices.

Contrasting results have been obtained in previous investigations, which have used the standard version of Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices for studying the effects of localized brain lesion on visual-spatial intelligence. Some of these discrepancies might be due to the fact that specific factors, such as unilateral spatial neglect, could contribute to decreased performance obtained on Raven's test by patients with focal brain lesions. A new set of Colored Matrices, devised to minimize the influence of unilateral spatial neglect without changing the essential features of the original task, was therefore constructed. The test was administered to 76 normal controls, 74 right brain-damaged patients, 87 aphasics, and 61 nonaphasic left brain-damaged patients, in order to study the effect of laterality of lesions and of language impairment on Raven's scores. The results show that, if the influence of unilateral spatial neglect is minimized and Raven's scores are corrected in reference to age, educational level, and lesion size, then: no significant differences are observed between right and left brain-damaged patients; aphasics score worse than nonaphasic left brain-damaged patients; impairment is greater in patients with Wernicke's and Global aphasia (i.e., in patients with severe language comprehension disorders) than in patients classified as Broca's, Anomic, or Conduction aphasia; impairment is greater in patients with semantic-lexical discrimination errors than in patients free from semantic-lexical comprehension disorders.

Poor performance of right brain-damaged patients on Raven's coloured matrices: Derangement of general intelligence or of specific abilities?

Two groups of 170 left and 173 right brain-damaged patients were given the Raven's Coloured Matrices, in order to study the influence of the hemispheric side of the lesion on this test of visual-spatial intelligence. A significant difference was found between the two hemispheric groups, the right brain-damaged patients scoring worse than the left hemisphere- damaged subjects. Furthermore, patients with right hemispheric lesions showed a striking tendency to neglect the responses lying on the left side of the page, whereas subjects with left hemispheric damage showed only a mild tendency to neglect the alternatives lying on the right half of the sheet. The worse performances obtained on the Coloured Matrices by right brain-damaged patients seemed due for the most part to unilateral spatial neglect. These findings suggest that the bad performances of patients affected by retro-rolandic right hemispheric lesions are not due to a general intellectual impairment, but rather to the detrimental effect of unilateral spatial neglect and of a general disorder in visual-spatial analysis.

Psychological assessment of a group of cerebral palsiedchildren with hearing impairments

Test Adaptations IT IS ESSENTIAL that the intellectual abilities of hearing impared children should be assessed by means of non-verbal or performance tests and not by verbal tests of intelligence. On the other hand it could well be argued that cerebral palsied children are at a disadvantage when asked to manipulate performance material. The psychologist attempting to assess a cerebral palsied child with impaired hearing is, therefore, in something of a dilemma. An attempt was made to find an escape from this dilemma by remaking the performance material of a number of tests in such a way that the manipulative component of the items was reduced to a minimum, while the cognitive component was unaffected. The Leiter International Performance Scale, for example, in its standard form is presented by means of a frame to which are attached card strips of designs. The child's task is to place in the appropriate positions of the frame a set of 1 in wooden cubes by reference to the design attached to one face of the cubes. In the early stages of the tests the task is a one-toone matching of design on the cube to design on the card strip, but at higher age levels more subtle relationships between the designs on the block and on the card strips are introduced. The manipulative element of this test may be demanding for young children without physical handicap and for older ones with problems in the control of hand movements as the blocks are a tight fit in their respective stalls. The solution was to use larger format wooden tablets, half an inch thick, instead of the cubes and a larger frame with tapered stalls into which the tablets could be slid. Far less manipulative precision was required to locate the tablet in the desired stall than had been the case with the cubes. The Hiskey Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude consists of a number of subtests some of which require the child to pick up and place picture cards appropriately. The picking up of such cards sometimes causes difficulty for the physically handicapped. A similar expedient was adopted to overcome this problem as that used in the adaptation of the Leiter Scale. The pictures were attached to 1⁄2 in thick wooden tablets and a frame was made into which the tablets could be slid when making the required match. Finally an enlarged formboard version of the Raven's Coloured Matrices was made. This test is normally given by asking the subject to point to the correct response. Where subjects have poor control of hand movements it is not always possible to tell which response is being made. A form-board version with large pieces overcomes this problem. The accepted material was compared for level of difficulty with the standard material using groups of subjects attending ordinary nursery and primary schools. In no case was there found to be any significant difference between scores on the standard tests and the adapted tests. It was therefore concluded that the adapted material measured essentially the same cognitive functions as the standard material while at the same time presenting fewer manipulative problems to physically hdndicapped children.

Nonverbal Cognitive Performance in Aphasic and Nonaphasic Brain-Damaged Patients

In this study, the performance of left brain-damaged aphasic patients was compared respectively with that of left and right brain-damaged nonaphasic patients on four nonverbal tests of cognitive function, the Raven's Coloured Matrices, the Shure-Wepman Concept Shift Test, the Grassi Block Design Test and the Elithorn Mazes. Severity and type of aphasia were assessed using the Language Modalities Test for Aphasia. Results show that more severe aphasic patients, i.e., the pragmatic and, in particular, the global patients are impaired in their cognitive performance. Discussion of these findings led to the conclusion that aphasia, itself, is specifically a defect of language and memory for language which may or may not be accompanied by impaired cognitive functioning. Results also indicate that right brain-damaged patients obtained much lower scores on the Elithorn Mazes than testable aphasic patients, thus supporting evidence in the literature that right brain-damaged subjects have a central visual-spatial impairment. In relation to the differential diagnostic value of the tests, the absence of normal data limits the scope of statements that can be made. Nevertheless, it was found that the Elithorn Mazes have by far the highest potential value in differential diagnosis. It can be inferred, from the evidence presented, that this test differentiates right brain-damaged patients from those left brain-damaged patients who understand the instructions. The scores of right brain-damaged patients are markedly inferior to those of the left brain-damaged patients who were able to do this task.