Pros and Cons of Using Intelligence Batteries for the Study of Clinical Populations: A Response to Beaujean (2017)

In his commentary to our study (Toffalini, Giofr\ue8, & Cornoldi, 2017), Beaujean (2017) raised some important issues. In particular, he suggested that the reliability of the WISC-IV indexes may be inadequate for clinical interpretation, that abnormal differences should be discussed rather than statistical significance, and that evidence of the treatment utility of WISC-IV indexes is limited. We agree with Beaujean that using cognitive strengths and weaknesses in isolation for individual clinical decisions is dangerous. However, investigation of groups is somewhat different; comparing group performances under different subtests or conditions, without definitive conclusions, can enhance clinical psychological research

Perceived Psychological Restorativeness in Relation to Individual and Environmental Variables: A Study Conducted at Poetto Beach in Sardinia, Italy

This study examines how objective, social, and perceived environmental conditions in a blue space are associated with the perception of psychological restorativeness. We collected data between April 2021 and February 2022 at Poetto Beach in Sardinia, Italy. The participants (N = 255) completed a survey about perceived environmental quality, stress, weather, and restorativeness during their stay at the beach. We used linear models to evaluate the association between psychological restorativeness and social, environmental, and weather parameters. We also analyzed the nature of the association between temperature and restorativeness by viewing this relation as both linear and non-linear and by evaluating the differences in restorativeness between winter, springtime, and summer. The results suggested that the participants viewed the beach as psychologically restorative, especially during the winter season. We also found that the number of people that participants came with was negatively associated with perceived restorativeness. Finally, the results from the correlation analysis revealed that people are less stressed if they go to the beach more frequently

Lumpers vs. splitters: Intelligence in children with specific learning disorders

A multigroup bifactor model was used to compare the explained variance and the reliability of the general vs. specific factors of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-4th edition (WISC-IV) in 1617 Italian children diagnosed with specific learning disorder (SLD) and an Italian normative sample of typically-developing children (with the exclusion of IQ < 70). Results suggested that more than half of the common variance, 56.1%, was accounted for by the domain-specific factors in SLD, against only 39.5% in typical development. The reliability of both general and specific factors was rather limited in SLD, whereas the reliability of the g-factor was good in typical development. An additional analysis using previous information from American data showed very similar results. Our results suggest that the role of the specific factors, of VCI and PSI in particular and WMI to a lesser extent, should be considered as probably largely distinct from the g-factor in children with SLD. Results also seem to indicate that the PRI is a less distinctive factor, which is, in the SLD group, hardly distinguishable from the g-factor. The use of Bayesian priors from American data indicated that results on Italian and American samples of children with SLD were similar, and different from those on the normative samples of both countries, suggesting remarkable cross-cultural and cross-linguistic similarity of the structure of intelligence in children with SLD

Path Learning in Individuals With Down Syndrome: The Floor Matrix Task and the Role of Individual Visuo-Spatial Measures

Environment learning is essential in everyday life. In individuals with Down syndrome (DS), this skill has begun to be examined using virtual exploration. Previous studies showed that individuals with DS can learn and remember paths in terms of sequences of turns and straight stretches, albeit with some difficulty, and this learning is supported by their cognitive abilities. This study further investigates environment learning in the DS population, newly examining their ability to learn a path from actual movements, and to learn increasingly long paths, and how their performance relates to their visuo-spatial abilities and everyday spatial activities. A group of 30 individuals with DS and 30 typically-developing (TD) children matched for receptive vocabulary performed a 4 7 4 Floor Matrix task in a grid comprising 16 squares (total area 2.3 7 2.3 meters). The task involved repeating increasingly long sequences of steps by actually moving in the grid. The sequences were presented in two learning conditions, called Observation (when participants watched the experimenter\u2019s moves), or Map (when they were shown a map reproducing the path). Several visuo-spatial measures were also administered. The results showed a clear difference between the two groups\u2019 performance in the individual visuo-spatial measures. In the Floor Matrix task, after controlling for visuo-spatial reasoning ability, both groups benefited to the same degree from the Observation condition vis-\ue0-vis the Map condition, and no group differences emerged. In the group with DS, visuo-spatial abilities were more predictive of performance in the Floor Matrix task in the Observation condition than in the Map condition. The same was true of the TD group, but this difference was much less clear-cut. The visuo-spatial working memory and visualization tasks were the strongest predictors of Floor Matrix task performance. Finally, the group with DS showed a significant relation between Floor Matrix task performance in the Observation condition and everyday spatial activity. These results enlarge on what we know about path learning in individuals with DS and its relation to their visuo-spatial abilities. These findings are discussed within the frame of spatial cognition and the atypical development domain

Developmental profiles of young children with autism spectrum disorder and global developmental delay: A study with the Griffiths III scales

The purpose of this study was to identify developmental profiles associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and global developmental delay (DD) in pre-school aged Italian children. Developmental profiles were evaluated by means of a standardized tool widely used for the assessment of psychomotor development in early childhood, the Griffiths III scales, recently adapted and standardized for the Italian population. Specifically, we compared the Griffiths III profiles of children with ASD and DD (ASD + DD) with those of children with DD alone. Moreover, we inspected the psychometric function of single items by comparing children with ASD + DD and children with DD with typically developing (TD) children from the Griffiths III normative sample. In this way, we aimed to isolate the effects of each diagnostic class on psychomotor abilities and on the psychometric function of single items. The ASD + DD and DD groups were found to share the presence of lower age equivalent scores relative to their chronological age in all the developmental domains considered: Foundations of Learning, Language and Communication, Eye and Hand Coordination, Personal–Social-Emotional and Gross Motor Skills. However, the DD group displayed a homogeneous profile with similar levels of delay in all developmental domains, while children with ASD + DD exhibited relative weaknesses in the Language and Communication and Personal–Social-Emotional scales. The analysis of the psychometric function drawn for each item has confirmed different profiles in social-communicative and non-verbal items between the two diagnostic groups and in relation to TD normative sample. The Griffiths III is a valid psychometric tool for identifying atypical developmental profiles and its use may be recommended during the diagnostic process of ASD and DD, to detect specific strengths and weaknesses and guide person-centered treatment

The role of attention in immediate emotional false memory enhancement

Two experiments examined the effect of reduced attentional resources on false memory production for emotionally valenced stimuli using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Prior research has demonstrated that emotional information is often better remembered than neutral information and that enhanced memory for emotional information is dependent on either automatic or controlled neural processing (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004). Behavioral studies designed to reduce attention resources at encoding have supported neuroimaging findings that indicate high arousal negative stimuli rely more on automatic processing but positive high arousal stimuli rely more on controlled processing. No study has yet examined the attentional resources required to produce emotionally valenced false memories. In Experiment 1, negative, positive, and neutral DRM lists were studied under full or divided attention (DA) conditions, and in Experiment 2, negative and neutral DRM lists were studied under fast (20 ms) or slow (2,000 ms) presentation conditions. Under DA and speeded presentation conditions, higher false memory recognition rates were found for negative compared with positive (Experiment 1) and neutral (Experiments 1 and 2) critical lures. This is the first demonstration of which we are aware that suggests negative false memories are associated with automatic neural processing, whereas positive and nonvalenced neutral false memories are associated with more controlled processing

Are the WISC-IV Italian norms similar to the UK norms? A comparison between the two standardizations

The WISC-IV is the most popular psychological battery in the world. However, not all subtests remain the same in the various adaptations of the scale. In fact, only the subtests included in the perceptual reasoning and in the processing speed indexes remain virtually the same across various adaptations of the scale. In this paper we compared Italian with United Kingdom norms in these two indices. Results showed that differences in the processing speed index were small and that they were larger in the perceptual reasoning index. Further, differences between the two standardizations, were not homogeneous, but concentrated in specific age groups. The clinical and theoretical implications of the study will be discussed

Intelligence measures as diagnostic tools for children with specific learning disabilities

The assessment of intelligence has always been an essential part of the diagnostic process of children with specific learning disabilities (SLD). Recently, emphasis has been placed on the profile of intellectual strengths (e.g. in reasoning) and weaknesses (e.g., in working memory and processing speed). In this study, we compared the WISC-IV intellectual profile of 1383 children with SLD to the normative data for typically developing children; in particular, we analyzed the predictive power of WISC-IV indexes and their discrepancies-especially the general ability index (GAI) vs. the cognitive proficiency index (CPI) or vs. the full-scale (FSIQ)-as markers of the SLD condition. Results showed that the intellectual profile in general, and the GAI-CPI or GAI-FSIQ discrepancy in particular, represents an effective criterion for differentiating between groups. Examining the underlying cognitive profile might be useful when dealing with children who have SLD, as discrepancies could be effectively used to support a diagnosis. © 2017 Elsevier Inc

Math Performance and Academic Anxiety Forms, from Sociodemographic to Cognitive Aspects: a Meta-analysis on 906,311 Participants

AbstractThe relationship between anxiety and mathematics has often been investigated in the literature. Different forms of anxiety have been evaluated, with math anxiety (MA) and test anxiety (TA) consistently being associated with various aspects of mathematics. In this meta-analysis, we have evaluated the impact of these forms of anxiety, distinguishing between different types of mathematical tasks. In investigating this relationship, we have also included potential moderators, such as age, gender, working memory, type of task, and type of material. One hundred seventy-seven studies met the inclusion criteria, providing an overall sample of 906,311 participants. Results showed that both MA and TA had a significant impact on mathematics. Sociodemographic factors had modest moderating effects. Working memory (WM) also mediated the relationship between MA and TA with mathematics; however, this indirect effect was weak. Theoretical and educational implications, as well as future directions for research in this field, are discussed.</jats:p

Are children with developmental dyslexia all the same? A cluster analysis with more than 300 cases

Reading is vital to every aspect of modern life, exacerbated by reliance of the internet, email, and social media on the written medium. Developmental dyslexia (DD) characterizes a disorder in which the core deficit involves reading. Traditionally, DD is thought to be associated with a phonological impairment. However, recent evidence has begun to suggest that the reading impairment in some individuals is provoked by a visual processing deficit. In this paper, we present WISC‐IV data from more than 300 Italian children with a diagnosis of DD to investigate the manifestation of phonological and visual subtypes. Our results indicate the existence of two clusters of children with DD. In one cluster, the deficit was more pronounced in the phonological component, while both clusters were impaired in visual processing. These data indicate that DD may be an umbrella term that encompasses different profiles. From a theoretical perspective, our results demonstrate that dyslexia cannot be explained in terms of an isolated phonological deficit alone; visual impairment plays a crucial role. Moreover, general rather than specific accounts of DD are discussed