La Salle University Graduate Catalog 2011-2012

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/course_catalogs/1193/thumbnail.jp

Cognitive style: the reliability and validity of verbal-imagery and wholistic-analytic cognitive style

Cognitive styles are defined as an individual's preferred or habitual way of processing information. In this thesis, existing measures of cognitive style are reviewed and the development of a new more reliable and valid cognitive style measure is outlined. The research described in this thesis includes (i) an introduction to cognitive styles research, (ii) an evaluation of Riding's (1991; 1998) popular Cognitive Style Analysis (CSA) test, (iii) the design and pilot of an inspection-time test of wholistic-analytic style, iv) the development oftwo new reliable tests of verbal-imagery and wholistic-analytic cognitive style (VICS test, and Extended WA test) and (v) the validity of the new tests and their potential impact on theory and practice.Many different cognitive style measures have been proposed. The most popular computerised cognitive style test in the UK is Riding's Cognitive Style Analysis (CSA) test. The CSA assesses style on two broad dimensions: verbalimagery (VI) and wholistic-analytic (WA). This thesis examines the test re-test, parallel form and split-halfreliability of the CSA's VI and WA dimensions in 50 participants. The results showed that the CSA's crucial style ratios, which are used to determine a person's cognitive style, were not reliable (r = .20 on the VI dimension, and r = .30 on the WA dimension).To try to improve the CSA's test of the wholistic-analytic dimension, an inspection time test of the WA dimension was designed and piloted. The inspection time WA ratio was found to be moderately reliable over time (r = .595). This line of investigation was put on hold, with the discovery that extending the length of the WA tests increased the splithalfreliability of the Extended WA test ratio (mean r = .67). The split-halfreliability of the Extended VI test ratio did not improve (mean r = .36). These findings suggested the need to revise the CSA's test of the VI dimension. Therefore, a new computerised test of verbal-imagery cognitive style (VICS test) was designed and tested. The crucial verbal-imagery ratios from the new VICS test were found to have test re-test reliability in 50 subjects of r = .66, and a split-half reliability of r = .72, whereas the reliability of the VI ratios from CSA remained low (r = .32).Finally, the validity of the new Extended WA and VICS tests was examined in 100 participants; specifically, the relationship that the VICS and the Extended WA had with personality (measured with IPIP, EPQ-R, IVE), intelligence (measured by 8 tests from the Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests) learning style (measured by ASSIST, PEPS) and behaviour (measured by the Instructional Preference Questionnaire and observed behaviour). No personality trait, cognitive ability, learning style or behaviour measure correlated more than .33 with cognitive style. It is suggested that cognitive style, as measured by the Extended WA test and the VICS test, is independent from personality, ability and 2 other learning style measures. The potential impact of these tests on current theory and practice is discussed

New Research in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This book collects recent research in the field of care for neurodevelopmental disorders, emphasizing transdisciplinary work in clinical, educational and family contexts. It presents an opportunity to learn about the impact of participation on children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders. Mainly, new therapeutic approaches are presented in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or motor coordination disorders

Acoustic measurement of overall voice quality in sustained vowels and continuous speech

Measurement of dysphonia severity involves auditory-perceptual evaluations and acoustic analyses of sound waves. Meta-analysis of proportional associations between these two methods showed that many popular perturbation metrics and noise-to-harmonics and others ratios do not yield reasonable results. However, this meta-analysis demonstrated that the validity of specific autocorrelation- and cepstrum-based measures was much more convincing, and appointed ‘smoothed cepstral peak prominence’ as the most promising metric of dysphonia severity. Original research confirmed this inferiority of perturbation measures and superiority of cepstral indices in dysphonia measurement of laryngeal-vocal and tracheoesophageal voice samples. However, to be truly representative for daily voice use patterns, measurement of overall voice quality is ideally founded on the analysis of sustained vowels ánd continuous speech. A customized method for including both sample types and calculating the multivariate Acoustic Voice Quality Index (i.e., AVQI), was constructed for this purpose. Original study of the AVQI revealed acceptable results in terms of initial concurrent validity, diagnostic precision, internal and external cross-validity and responsiveness to change. It thus was concluded that the AVQI can track changes in dysphonia severity across the voice therapy process. There are many freely and commercially available computer programs and systems for acoustic metrics of dysphonia severity. We investigated agreements and differences between two commonly available programs (i.e., Praat and Multi-Dimensional Voice Program) and systems. The results indicated that clinicians better not compare frequency perturbation data across systems and programs and amplitude perturbation data across systems. Finally, acoustic information can also be utilized as a biofeedback modality during voice exercises. Based on a systematic literature review, it was cautiously concluded that acoustic biofeedback can be a valuable tool in the treatment of phonatory disorders. When applied with caution, acoustic algorithms (particularly cepstrum-based measures and AVQI) have merited a special role in assessment and/or treatment of dysphonia severity