Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1922. / Vita. Published also as Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to education, no. 126. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. [83]-84.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.S.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-48)

One hundred and fifteen second and third grade Anglo and Hispanic boys and girls from an isolated rural town in Arizona were tested on two nonverbal measures of cognitive skills to ascertain their predictive validity and ethnic bias. Bias was addressed by regression analysis, a technique that allows for the comparison of slopes and intercepts for two or more groups. The children from both ethnics were roughly equated on SES variables due to the location and nature of the community. The Raven's Coloured Test of Cognitive Skills (NTCS) were employed to predict the state-mandated California Achievement Test (CAT) and the pupils' grade point average (GPA). The results suggested that the Raven's exhibits both slope and intercept bias for three of the four criterion variables whereas the NTCS demonstrated bias only in terms of GPA. Both nonverbal tests correlated highly indicating that they are measuring similar skills. The NTCS generally had higher predictive validity than the Raven's. A combination of the two tests increased prediction by only a small amount. These results indicate that, contrary to previous research, the Raven's may be a biased predictor for Hispanics and that the NTCS appears both less biased and a better predictor. Both nonverbal test validities approached the WISC-R correlation coefficients for Hispanics. Neither test proved to be a potent predictor of Anglo test scores or GPAs. This differential validity infers that the nonverbal tests be employed with caution with native English speakers. The hypothesized reasons for the better performance of the NTCS included its measuring of more than one skill. The two tests were contrasted in terms of psychometric considerations, training time, and testing time. Limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research with various non-native speakers of English was discussed.

This thesis has sought a relationship between score on an objective imagery questionnaire and performance on an objective imagery task. The Sheehan revision (1967) of the Betts QMI (1909) and the Weber Alphabet Task (1969), respectively, were the two measures used.The Sheehan revision (1967) of the original Betts (1909) was administered to 107 students and three imagery groups of 10 students each were chosen on the basis of the results: a high imagery group, a middle imagery group, and a low imagery group. These 30 subjects then performed the Weber Task. An analysis of variance was done on the two sets of scores.No relationship was found to exist between scores on the two measures. Several reasons for this failure to find a relationship were proposed, among them response bias inherent in imagery utilized by the two measures.

The association between intelligence and achievement has been investigated by many researchers, and a moderate to strong correlation between the two has been repeatedly found. Few researchers, however, have studied the intelligence–achievement relationship within the context of poverty. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the verbal and the nonverbal scores of students within the context of poverty. The study investigated how students’ verbal and nonverbal scores differentiate by ability levels within each grade, specifically kindergarten through fifth grades. It also focused on gifted fifth grade students, and investigated the relationship between their verbal scores and poverty status. Research questions guiding the study were: (1) What is the relationship between verbal and nonverbal intelligence scores of students from poverty, (2) how does this relationship differ by ability levels within each grade, and (3) what is the relationship between verbal scores and poverty status of fifth grade gifted students? The data was collected and analyzed with quantitative methods. The study had two different samples. The first sample consisted of 1935 kindergarten through fifth graders and was used to answer the first and second research questions. The second sample consisted of 128 gifted fifth grade students and was used to answer the third question. The Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scale (RIAS), the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition (OLSAT 8), and the Stanford Achievement Test–Tenth Edition (Stanford 10) were used to collect data. The results indicated that students living in poverty, as measured by free- or reduced lunch status, evidenced large gaps between their verbal and nonverbal intelligence scores. The observed gaps were not specific to any grade level or ability level. Rather, all grades from kindergarten through fifth, demonstrated large gaps between their verbal and nonverbal IQ scores. These gaps were even larger for students with higher nonverbal IQ scores. In addition, free or reduced-lunch status was a significant predictor of verbal intelligence scores as well as of achievement scores. In the light of the results, the study discussed the findings and offered implications: Identification and placement processes for gifted and talented students from poverty should be extra cautious given this demonstrated verbal-nonverbal score discrepancy. Verbal abilities should be assessed when placing students into advanced programs given the verbal demands of these programs. While many students with high nonverbal scores may have had the potential to learn, they were not ready to learn due to their lower verbal scores. Therefore, building verbal intelligence of impoverished students with lower achievement scores will make them more likely to be successful in academic coursework that demands high verbal ability.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a non-verbal test of intelligence, the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence (TONI), may be used for assessing intellectual abilities of children in India. This investigation is considered important since current instruments used in India were developed several years ago and do not adequately reflect present standards of performance. Further, current instruments do not demonstrate adequate validity, as procedures for development and cultural transport were frequently not in adherence to recommended guidelines for such practice. Data were collected from 91 normally achieving and 18 mentally retarded Indian children, currently enrolled in elementary schools. Data from an American comparison group were procured from the authors of the TONI. Subjects were matched on age, grade, and area of residence. Subjects were also from comparative socioeconomic backgrounds. Literature review of the theoretical framework supporting cross-cultural measurement of intellectual ability, a summary of major instruments developed for cross-cultural use, non-verbal measures of intellectual ability in India, and issues in cross-cultural research are discussed, with recommended methodology for test transport. Major findings are: (a) the factor scales derived from the Indian and American normally achieving groups indicate significant differences; (b) items 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, and 22 are biased against the Indian group, though overall item characteristic curves are not significantly different; (c) mean raw scores on the TONI are significantly different between second and third grade Indian subjects; and (d) mean TONI Quotients are significantly different between normally achieving and mentally retarded Indian subjects. It is evident that deletion of biased items and rescaling would be necessary for the TONI to be valid in the Indian context. However, because it does discriminate between subjects at different levels of ability, adaptation for use in India is justified. It may prove to be a more current and parsimonious method of assessing intellectual abilities in Indian children than instruments presently in use.

The following study had been developed to demonstrate language behavior in subjects that matched or demonstrated deficient language behavior like Sarah's (Premack, 1971). Two autistic children were selected as subjects. These two subjects demonstrated that children who could not normally fulfill the language behavior requirement of selecting specific words, letters, or colored stones, and arranging them in some good temporal sequence, could in fact be taught to do just that activity. In this manner, language deficient candidates more severely damaged than the subjects used by Premack in his study on language difficulties in persons who were "brain damaged,'" could be taught the parameters of syntax and semantics on a non-vocal level, and thereby fulfill the criterion for language behavior, namely that of arranging specific symbols in good temporal sequence.

Apresenta a padronização de um novo teste, o “R-2 Teste não-verbal de inteligência para crianças", que avalia o fator G da inteligência, com normas, análise de itens e estudos de precisão e validade. A amostra foi composta por 1554 crianças do município de São Paulo, de 5 a 11,5 anos, sorteadas em proporção de matriculados da rede oficial de ensino em cada tipo de escola: estadual, municipal e particular. Apresenta também os resultados da pesquisa piloto a partir dos quais foi proposta nova ordem de apresentação dos itens do teste, segundo o grau de dificuldade e o tipo de raciocínio empregado. Foram analisadas as variáveis: idade, sexo e tipo de escola que a criança freqüenta, este último como indicativo do nível sócio-econômico. As médias de pontos mostraram crescimento progressivo com a idade. Não houve diferenças significantes entre os sexos. Foram encontradas diferenças significantes entre os tipos de escola: pública (estadual e municipal) e particular, sendo as normas apresentadas em percentis para a amostra global e separadas para os dois tipos de escola. A nova ordem dos itens mostrou-se adequada, porém alguns itens poderão ser revistos para contribuírem de melhor forma na discriminação dos resultados do teste. O teste apresentou coeficientes de precisão e de validade satisfatórios, especialmente para as idades maiores. Os resultados sugerem que o teste seja revisto para as idades de cinco e seis anos. / This research presents the standardization of a new test, the “R-2: Non-verbal test of intelligence for children", that evaluates the G factor of intelligence, including norms, item analysis, reliability and validity studies. The sample was composed by 1554 children of the city of São Paulo, with ages ranging from 5 to 11,5 years. The sample was selected randomly among pupils of state, municipal and private schools and their representation was directly proportional to the number of students enrolled in each school type. From results of a preliminary research a new order of presentation of items was proposed, according to the difficulty level and the kind of reasoning employed. The results were compared by age, sex and type of school that child attends, this last as an index of socioeconomic level. The means scores increased progressively with age. There were no significant differences among sexes. Significant differences were found among school types: public (state and municipal) and private. For this reason, percentile norms were established to the global sample and specific norms to the two types of school. The new order of the items showed itself adequate, although some items could be revised to contribute better to the discrimination of test results. The test presented satisfactory reliability and validity coefficients, especially for the higher ages. The results suggest that the test should be revised for the ages of five and six years.

Much of cognitive science research and almost all of AI research into problem solving has focused on the use of verbal or propositional representations. However, there is significant evidence that humans solve problems using different representational modalities, including visual or iconic ones. In this dissertation, I investigate visual problem solving from the perspectives of autism, psychometrics, and AI. Studies of individuals on the autism spectrum show that they often use atypical patterns of cognition, and anecdotal reports have frequently mentioned a tendency to "think visually." I examined one precise characterization of visual thinking in terms of iconic representations. I then conducted a comprehensive review of data on several cognitive tasks from the autism literature and found numerous instances indicating that some individuals with autism may have a disposition towards visual thinking. One task, the Raven's Progressive Matrices test, is of particular interest to the field of psychometrics, as it represents one of the single best measures of general intelligence that has yet been developed. Typically developing individuals are thought to solve the Raven's test using largely verbal strategies, especially on the more difficult subsets of test problems. In line with this view, computational models of information processing on the Raven's test have focused exclusively on propositional representations. However, behavioral and fMRI studies of individuals with autism suggest that these individuals may use instead a predominantly visual strategy across most or all test problems. To examine visual problem solving on the Raven's test, I first constructed a computational model, called the Affine and Set Transformation Induction (ASTI) model, which uses a combination of affine transformations and set operations to solve Raven's problems using purely pixel-based representations of problem inputs, without any propositional encoding. I then performed four analyses using this model. First, I tested the model against three versions of the Raven's test, to determine the sufficiency of visual representations for solving this type of problem. The ASTI model successfully solves 50 of the 60 problems on the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) test, comparable in performance to the best computational models that use propositional representations. Second, I evaluated model robustness in the face of changes to the representation of pixels and visual similarity. I found that varying these low-level representational commitments causes only small changes in overall performance. Third, I performed successive ablations of the model to create a new classification of problem types, based on which transformations are necessary and sufficient for finding the correct answer. Fourth, I examined if patterns of errors made on the SPM can provide a window into whether a visual or verbal strategy is being used. While many of the observed error patterns were predicted by considering aspects of the model and of human behavior, I found that overall error patterns do not seem to provide a clear indicator of strategy type. The main contributions of this dissertation include: (1) a rigorous definition and examination of a disposition towards visual thinking in autism; (2) a sufficiency proof, through the construction of a novel computational model, that visual representations can successfully solve many Raven's problems; (3) a new, data-based classification of problem types on the SPM; (4) a new classification of conceptual error types on the SPM; and (5) a methodology for analyzing, and an analysis of, error patterns made by humans and computational models on the SPM. More broadly, this dissertation contributes significantly to our understanding of visual problem solving.