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Descriptors:
Intelligence; Behavior Problems; Genetics; Etiology; Environmental Influences; Preschool Children; Longitudinal Studies; Twins; Attendance; Cognitive Ability; Socioeconomic Status; Minority Groups; Enrollment; Child Care Centers; Economically Disadvantaged; Preschool Education

Abstract:
Background: Preschool involves an array of new social experiences that may impact the development of early externalizing behavior problems over the transition to grade school. Methods: Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of over 600 pairs of US twins, we tested whether the genetic and environmental influences on externalizing problems differed between children who did versus did not attend preschool. Results: At age 4, the genetic and environmental etiology of externalizing did not differ by preschool attendance. In contrast, by age 5 years (kindergarten age), the genetic and environmental etiology of externalizing significantly differed by preschool attendance. Among children who did not attend preschool, externalizing at age 5 was predominantly due to environmental influences (52% shared environment, 34% non-shared environment) rather than genetic differences (13%), whereas among children who had attended preschool, externalizing at age 5 was primarily due to genes (67%), and shared environmental influences were negligible (0%). These interactions represented the differential longitudinal persistence of genes and environments that contributed to externalizing at age 4. Sensitivity analyses ruled out confounding due to early mental ability, socioeconomic status, minority status, child age, and prior history of childcare. Conclusions: These results indicate that preschool enrollment is associated with increased genetic and decreased shared environmental influences on the development of early externalizing behavior problems. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures, and 2 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Psychopathology; Child Abuse; Cognitive Ability; Risk; Anxiety; Depression (Psychology); Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Diagnostic Tests; Mental Disorders; Ethnicity; Physiology; Reinforcement; Decision Making; Health Behavior; Correlation; Children

Abstract:
Background: Childhood maltreatment is strongly associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorder. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported atypical neural structure in the orbitofrontal cortex, temporal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum in maltreated samples. It has been hypothesised that these structural differences may relate to increased psychiatric vulnerability. However, previous studies have typically recruited clinical samples with concurrent psychiatric disorders, or have poorly characterised the range of maltreatment experiences and levels of concurrent anxiety or depression, limiting the interpretation of the observed structural differences. Methods: We used voxel-based morphometry to compare grey matter volume in a group of 18 children (mean age 12.01 years, SD = 1.4), referred to community social services, with documented and well-characterised experiences of maltreatment at home and a group of 20 nonmaltreated children (mean age 12.6 years, SD = 1.3). Both groups were comparable on age, gender, cognitive ability, ethnicity and levels of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. We examined five a priori regions of interest: the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum. Results: Maltreated children, compared to nonmaltreated peers, presented with reduced grey matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the left middle temporal gyrus. Conclusions: The medial orbitofrontal cortex and the middle temporal gyrus have been implicated in reinforcement-based decision-making, emotion regulation and autobiographical memory, processes that are impaired in a number of psychiatric disorders associated with maltreatment. We speculate that grey matter disturbance in these regions in a community sample of maltreated children may represent a latent neurobiological risk factor for later psychopathology and heightened risk taking. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Spatial Ability; Effect Size; Visualization; Gender Differences; Meta Analysis; Cognitive Ability; Visual Measures

Abstract:
This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the magnitude of gender difference in three-dimensional (3-D) mental rotation ability and to investigate how factors related to test administration conditions play a role in varying gender difference effect sizes and threatening validity. Individuals' 3-D mental rotation ability was measured by the Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT:R). We integrated 70 effect sizes of gender differences in mental rotation ability measured by the PSVT:R which were obtained from 40 primary studies. The results indicated that male participants outperformed females on the test (Hedges' "g" = 0.57). The I[superscript 2] statistic indicated 41.7 % of variation in effect sizes reflects real heterogeneity. The moderator analysis indicated that male superiority on spatial ability tasks measured by the PSVT:R is related to the implementation of time limits. The gender difference became larger when stringent time limits (equal or less than 30 s per item) were implemented. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Memory; Cognitive Ability; Older Adults; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Correlation; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Tests; Measures (Individuals)

Abstract:
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and autobiographical memory specificity in older adults. Method: Older adult trauma survivors (N = 23) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised. Results: When cognitive ability was partialled out, the relationship between PTSD symptoms and reduced autobiographical memory specificity was significant. Specifically, the relationships between reliving symptoms and avoidance symptoms correlated significantly with reduced autobiographical memory specificity. There was no significant relationship between hyperarousal symptoms and reduced autobiographical memory specificity. Conclusions: The findings suggest that similar to other populations, PTSD symptoms are also associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity in older adults. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Gifted; Identification; Cognitive Ability; Intelligence; Screening Tests; Talent Development; Predictive Validity; Disproportionate Representation; Grade 2; Comparative Analysis; English Language Learners; Kindergarten; Grade 1; Correlation; Effect Size; Scores; Elementary School Students

Abstract:
The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, Second Edition (NNAT2), is used widely to screen students for possible inclusion in talent development programs. The NNAT2 claims to provide a more culturally neutral evaluation of general ability than tests such as Form 6 of the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT6), which has Verbal and Quantitative batteries in addition to a Nonverbal battery. This study compared the performance of 5,833 second graders who took the CogAT6 and 4,038 kindergartners, first graders, and second graders who took the NNAT2 between 2005 and 2011 as part of a grade-wide screening for a gifted program. Comparison between minorities and Whites on the CogAT6 and the NNAT2 found slightly larger gaps on the CogAT6 Composite for Hispanics and English-Language Learners (ELL) but the same gap for Black students. Considered alone, the Nonverbal battery of CogAT6 produced smaller gaps than the NNAT2 for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and ELL students. Fisher's exact tests showed no significant differences between the CogAT6 Composite and the NNAT2 in subgroup identification rates at hypothetical cuts for gifted identification (top 20%, 10%, or 5%), except for Asian and ELL students. The CogAT6 Nonverbal score appeared to identify as many or more high-ability students from underrepresented groups as the NNAT2. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition, follow-up on the top 5% showed greater predictive validity for the CogAT6 Composite. These results suggest that gifted programs should not assume that using a figural screening test such as the NNAT2, without other adjustments to selection protocol, will address minority underrepresentation. (Contains 5 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Adolescents; Young Adults; Video Games; Schemata (Cognition); Cognitive Ability; Correlation; Young Children; Transfer of Training; Academic Achievement; Skill Development

Abstract:
Current empirical findings show linkages between recreational video game play and enhanced cognitive skills, primarily among young adults. However, consideration of this linkage among children and adolescents is sparse. Thus, discussions about facilitating transfer of cognitive skills from video game play to academic tasks among children and adolescents remains largely uninformed by research. To inform this discussion, we review available research concerning the cognitive benefits of video game play among children and adolescents and their impressions of video games as learning tools as these impressions may impact their application of cognitive skills used during game play to academic tasks. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Academically Gifted; Cognitive Ability; Student Attitudes; Measures (Individuals); Residential Programs; Child Rearing; Parenting Styles; Factor Analysis; Multiple Regression Analysis; Questionnaires; Age Differences; Gender Differences; Racial Differences; Summer Programs; Preadolescents; Adolescents; Elementary School Students; High School Students

Abstract:
Children whose parents are warm and responsive yet also set limits and have reasonable expectations for their children tend to have better outcomes than their peers whose parents show less warmth and responsiveness, have low expectations, or both. Parenting behavior is related to family race and children's sex, age, and cognitive ability. However, there is no work that examines how children's cognitive abilities are related to their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' parenting styles and the extent to which these relationships are moderated by race, sex, and age in a sample of gifted students. Participants (N = 332, ages 9-17 years) attended a summer residential program for gifted students and completed the Parental Authority Questionnaire and the verbal battery of the Cognitive Abilities Test. Three main findings emerged. First, factor analyses provided support for the use of the Parent Authority Questionnaire with gifted populations. Second, findings from regression analyses as well as examinations of mean differences by cognitive ability level were consistent with earlier studies suggesting that more cognitively able students were likely to perceive their parents as employing a flexible (i.e., authoritative) parenting style. Finally, consonant with earlier studies with nonidentified populations, age, sex, and race were associated with parenting styles as reported by this group of identified gifted students. Results provide further support for the notion that authoritative parenting promotes positive outcomes for children, particularly those who have been identified as gifted. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Immigrants; Elementary School Students; Minority Group Students; Foreign Countries; Longitudinal Studies; Disadvantaged; Asians; Latin Americans; Cognitive Ability; Mathematics Skills; Academic Ability; Language Aptitude

Abstract:
We consider the relative academic achievement in primary school of second-generation immigrant children in the UK. The education progress of these groups of children is of historical interest and is also relevant to the policy debate today, since ethnic minority students in England continue to have lower levels of achievement in primary school, though they go on to catch up with their white counterparts in secondary school. We use rich data for a cohort born in 1970 and find that children born to South Asian or Afro-Caribbean parents have significantly lower levels of cognitive achievement in both mathematics and language in primary school. Our analysis also reveals that the negative impact from being born to South Asian parents decreases during primary school, while the negative effect from being born to Afro-Caribbean parents remains approximately stable. Hence, our evidence shows that even as long ago as the late 1970s, while most ethnic minority groups had lower academic achievement in primary school, some groups of ethnic minority pupils, namely those from South Asia, were showing signs of "catch-up". (Contains 11 tables, 4 figures, and 3 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Bilingualism; Monolingualism; Children; Executive Function; Spatial Ability; Task Analysis; Computer Assisted Testing; Measures (Individuals); Intelligence; Error Patterns; Cognitive Ability; Academic Achievement

Abstract:
Monolingual and bilingual 8-year-olds performed a computerized spatial perspective-taking task. Children were asked to decide how an observer saw a four-block array from one of three different positions (90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees counter-clockwise from the child's position) by selecting one of four responses--the correct response, the egocentric error, an incorrect choice in which the array was correct but in the wrong orientation for the viewer, and an incorrect choice in which the array included an internal spatial error. All children performed similarly on background measures, including fluid intelligence, but bilingual children were more accurate than monolingual children in calculating the observer's view across all three positions, with no differences in the pattern of errors committed by the two language groups. The results are discussed in terms of the effect of bilingualism on modifying performance in a complex spatial task that has implications for academic achievement. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Animals; Language Usage; Language Acquisition; Cues; Young Children; Nouns; Expectation; Phrase Structure; Novelty (Stimulus Dimension); Thinking Skills; Cognitive Ability; Classification; Beliefs

Abstract:
The goal of the present study was to explore domain differences in young children's expectations about the structure of animal and artifact categories. We examined 5-year-olds' and adults' use of category-referring generic noun phrases (e.g., "Birds fly") about novel animals and artifacts. The same stimuli served as both animals and artifacts; thus, stimuli were perceptually identical across domains, and domain was indicated exclusively by language. Results revealed systematic domain differences: children and adults produced more generic utterances when items were described as animals than artifacts. Because the stimuli were novel and lacking perceptual cues to domain, these findings must be attributed to higher-order expectations about animal and artifact categories. Overall, results indicate that by age 5, children are able to make knowledge-based domain distinctions between animals and artifacts that may be rooted in beliefs about the coherence and homogeneity of categories within these domains. (Contains 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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