Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study describes difficulties Iraqi graduate students encounter while answering Verbal Reasoning Measure (VRM) questions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Participants thought aloud while answering questions from three VRM subsections: Reading Comprehension (RC), Text Completion (TC), and Sentence Equivalence (SE). Data were collected via audio recordings, from seven Iraqi graduate students, and transcribed orthographically, coded, and analyzed. The analysis yielded several themes: Difficulties related to the structure of the question and/or the meaning of its answers, the content is pertinent to USA culture and history, SE is the most difficult part followed by TC, and RC is time consuming. These findings are consistent with previous research results that the structure of the GRE VRM questions and/or the answers are difficult to understand, SE items were much harder than TC and RC items due to their unfamiliar content and vague meanings, and RC is time consuming for international graduate students. Pedagogical implications were identified and recommendations for ETS and students were suggested.

This study demonstrates the utility of applying a causal indicator modeling framework to investigate important predictors of reading comprehension in third, seventh, and tenth grade students. The results indicated that a 4-factor multiple indicator multiple indicator cause (MIMIC) model of reading comprehension provided adequate fit at each grade level. This model included latent predictor constructs of decoding, verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, and working memory and accounted for a large portion of the reading comprehension variance (73–87 %) across grade levels. Verbal reasoning contributed the most unique variance to reading comprehension at all grade levels. In addition, we fit a multiple group 4-factor MIMIC model to investigate the relative stability (or variability) of the predictor contributions to reading comprehension across development (i.e., grade levels). The results revealed that the contributions of verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, and working memory to reading comprehension were stable across the three grade levels. Decoding was the only predictor that could not be constrained to be equal across grade levels. The contribution of decoding skills to reading comprehension was higher in third grade and then remained relatively stable between seventh and tenth grade. These findings illustrate the feasibility of using MIMIC models to explain individual differences in reading comprehension across the development of reading skills.

BackgroundThe cognitive profile in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is often characterized by a discrepancy between nonverbal vs. verbal reasoning skills, in favor of the latter skills. This dissociation has also been observed in memory, with verbal learning skills described as a relative strength. Yet the development of these skills is still to be investigated. We thus aimed to explore verbal learning longitudinally. Furthermore, we explored verbal learning and its respective associations with hippocampal alterations and psychosis, which remain largely unknown despite their high prevalence in 22q11.2DS.MethodsIn total, 332 individuals (173 with 22q11.2DS) aged 5–30 years completed a verbal-paired associates task. Mixed-models regression analyses were conducted to explore developmental trajectories with threefold objectives. First, verbal learning and retention trajectories were compared between 22q11.2DS vs. HC. Second, we examined hippocampal volume development in 22q11.2DS participants with lower vs. higher verbal learning performance. Third, we explored verbal learning trajectories in 22q11.2DS participants with vs. without positive psychotic symptoms and with vs. without a psychotic spectrum disorder (PSD).ResultsOur findings first reveal lower verbal learning performance in 22q11.2DS, with a developmental plateau emerging from adolescence. Second, participants with lower verbal learning scores displayed a reduced left hippocampal tail volume. Third, participants with PSD showed a deterioration of verbal learning performance, independently of verbal reasoning skills.ConclusionOur study challenges the current view of preserved verbal learning skills in 22q11.2DS and highlights associations with specific hippocampal alterations. We further identify verbal learning as a novel cognitive marker for psychosis in 22q11.2DS.

This article presents the results of two studies investigating increased intra-individual variability (IIV) in the performance of individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in two cognitive domains: numerosity judgments and quantitative and verbal reasoning. Study 1, a pre-registered experiment, involved approximately 200 participants (42.66% female; mean age: 36.86; standard deviation of age: 10.70) making numerical judgments at two time-points. ADHD-symptom severity was assessed on a continuous scale. In Study 2, we collected the data of approximately 3000 examinees who had taken a high-stakes admissions test for higher education (assessing quantitative and verbal reasoning). The sample comprised only people formally diagnosed with ADHD. The control group consisted of approximately 200 000 examinees, none of whom presented with ADHD. The results of Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between IIV (distance between judgments at the two time-points) and ADHD symptom severity. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that IIV (distance between the scores on two test chapters assessing the same type of reasoning) was greater among examinees diagnosed with ADHD. In both studies, the findings persisted even after controlling for performance level. The results indicate that individuals with ADHD, those without, exhibit less consistent numerosity judgments and greater fluctuation in performance on verbal and quantitative reasoning. The measurement of the same psychological constructs appears to be less precise among individuals with ADHD compared to those without. We discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of our results for two fields: judgment and decision-making, and assessment.

Background Many studies suggest bilingualism as a cognitive reserve factor, but the evidence of such bilingual advantage is still controversial. Additionally, there is limited knowledge about which type of bilingual experience has the greatest impact on cognitive decline associated with aging, making it difficult to explain the effect of bilingualism on delaying the symptoms of dementia. Method To understand the impact of language experience on cognitive aging, we compared the cognitive performance of 2502 cognitively unimpaired individuals aged 44–74 years old from the Alzheimer's and Families (ALFA) study, considering their age of language acquisition (AoA) and active use of both languages (Spanish as L1 and Catalan as L2). We defined three groups based on L2 AoA and proficiency: early high‐proficient bilinguals (n = 1515), late high‐proficient bilinguals (n = 708) and late low‐proficient bilinguals, primarily Spanish‐dominant (n = 279). Result On tests assessing non‐verbal reasoning and processing speed (measured by WAIS‐IV Matrix Reasoning and Coding, respectively), high‐proficiency bilinguals, whether early (p < 0.001 for both tests) or late (p < 0.001 for Coding and p =  0.002 for Matrix Reasoning), outperformed late low‐proficient bilinguals, even after controlling for age, education, gender, and other cognitive reserve factors such as occupational complexity, social and physical activities, and cultural and intellectual pursuits. The performance of the two high‐proficient groups was comparable across all cognitive test scores. Early high‐proficient bilinguals also outperformed late low‐proficient bilinguals in visuospatial processing (WAIS‐IV Visual Puzzles; p =  0.028) and working memory, attention and encoding (WAIS‐IV Digits Span, p < 0.001). In the case of late high‐proficient bilinguals, they outperformed late low‐proficient bilinguals in Semantic verbal fluency (p = 0.013). The three groups did not show significant differences in general cognitive decline as measured by MMSE (p = 0.384) or episodic verbal memory measured with Memory Binding Test (p > 0.05 in all conditions). Conclusion This suggests that high L2 proficiency and L1‐L2 active use is associated with better cognitive performance, irrespective of AoA. Furthermore, the cognitive benefits of actively speaking a second language seems to be limited to non‐linguistic functions, with no significant effect on verbal episodic memory or lexical retrieval.

In the late 1970s, 563 intellectually talented 13-year-olds (identified by the SAT as in the top 0.5% of ability) were assessed on spatial ability. More than 30 years later, the present study evaluated whether spatial ability provided incremental validity (beyond the SAT's mathematical and verbal reasoning subtests) for differentially predicting which of these individuals had patents and three classes of refereed publications. A two-step discriminant-function analysis revealed that the SAT subtests jointly accounted for 10.8% of the variance among these outcomes (p < .01); when spatial ability was added, an additional 7.6% was accounted for—a statistically significant increase (p < .01). The findings indicate that spatial ability has a unique role in the development of creativity, beyond the roles played by the abilities traditionally measured in educational selection, counseling, and industrial-organizational psychology. Spatial ability plays a key and unique role in structuring many important psychological phenomena and should be examined more broadly across the applied and basic psychological sciences.

The efficacy of working-memory training is a topic of considerable debate, with some studies showing transfer to measures such as fluid intelligence while others have not. We report the results of a study designed to examine two forms of working-memory training, one using a spatial n-back and the other a verbal complex span. Thirty-one undergraduates completed 4 weeks of n-back training and 32 completed 4 weeks of verbal complex span training. We also included two active control groups. One group trained on a non-adaptive version of n-back and the other trained on a real-time strategy video game. All participants completed pre- and post-training measures of a large battery of transfer tasks used to create composite measures of short-term and working memory in both verbal and visuo-spatial domains as well as verbal reasoning and fluid intelligence. We only found clear evidence for near transfer from the spatial n-back training to new forms of n-back, and this was the case for both adaptive and non-adaptive n-back.

Background The use of digital biomarkers to assess cognition in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) offers scalable, efficient alternatives to paper‐and‐pencil tests. Validating these tools against clinical and biomarker‐defined groups is critical for their adoption in research, clinical trials and clinical contexts. This study evaluates the performance of a remote, unsupervised cognitive assessment (FLAME‐Factors of Longitudinal Attention, Memory and Executive Function) in distinguishing cognitive profiles across diagnostic categories and amyloid status in two cohorts from BBRC. Method Cognitively normal (CN) participants from ALFA+ cohort and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients from Beta‐AARC cohort were invited via email to FLAME remote and unsupervised assessment. 249 participants completed FLAME tasks, that include working memory (Self Ordered Search Score, Paired Associate Learning Score, Digit Span Score), episodic memory (Picture Recognition Accuracy), attention (Digit Vigilance Accuracy, Digit Vigilance False Alarms, Digit Vigilance Reaction Time Mean, Choice Reaction Time Accuracy) and executive function (Verbal Reasoning Accuracy). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with post‐hoc (Tukey) were used to examine differences by clinical and amyloid status. Logistic regression models were employed to evaluate if the digital tasks predicted MCI. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and education. Result MCI group showed reduced performance in paired associate learning score, attention variables, picture recognition accuracy and verbal reasoning compared to CN and SCD participants. Digit vigilance false alarms, picture recognition accuracy and verbal reasoning accuracy were able to significantly distinguish between CN and SCD groups (Figure 1). Several cognitive variables significantly predicted MCI, including paired associate learning score (OR=1.93,95%CI[1.09‐3.51],p=0.02), digit vigilance accuracy (OR=1.17,95%CI[1.02‐1.35],p=0.02) and false alarms (OR=1.4,95%CI[1.13‐1.76],p=0.002), and accuracy from choice reaction time task (OR=1.23,95%CI[1.03‐1.47],p=0.01), picture recognition (OR=1.39,95%CI[1.17‐1.72],p<0.001), and verbal reasoning (OR=1.05,95%CI [1.01‐1.11],p=0.03). Additionally, self ordered search score and picture recognition accuracy were significantly lower in amyloid‐positive individuals (Figure 2). Conclusion A remote unsupervised assessment reliably differentiates diagnostic and AD biomarker‐defined groups and predicts MCI, underscoring its promise value for research and clinical contexts.

The educational, occupational, and creative accomplishments of the profoundly gifted participants (IQs ≥ 160) in the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) are astounding, but are they representative of equally able 12-year-olds? Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP) identified 259 young adolescents who were equally gifted. By age 40, their life accomplishments also were extraordinary: Thirty-seven percent had earned doctorates, 7.5% had achieved academic tenure (4.3% at research-intensive universities), and 9% held patents; many were high-level leaders in major organizations. As was the case for the SMPY sample before them, differential ability strengths predicted their contrasting and eventual developmental trajectories—even though essentially all participants possessed both mathematical and verbal reasoning abilities far superior to those of typical Ph.D. recipients. Individuals, even profoundly gifted ones, primarily do what they are best at. Differences in ability patterns, like differences in interests, guide development along different paths, but ability level, coupled with commitment, determines whether and the extent to which noteworthy accomplishments are reached if opportunity presents itself.

To date, studies have not established whether autistic and non-autistic individuals differ in emotion recognition from facial motion cues when matched in terms of alexithymia. Here, autistic and non-autistic adults (N = 60) matched on age, gender, non-verbal reasoning ability and alexithymia, completed an emotion recognition task, which employed dynamic point light displays of emotional facial expressions manipulated in terms of speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic participants exhibited significantly lower accuracy for angry, but not happy or sad, facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Autistic, and not alexithymic, traits were predictive of accuracy for angry facial motion with unmanipulated speed and spatial exaggeration. Alexithymic traits, in contrast, were predictive of the magnitude of both correct and incorrect emotion ratings.