Impulsivity-reflectivity and children's intellectual performance

A Study of Reflectivity and Impulsivity of Chinese and American University Students

This research compared the cognitive styles of reflectivity and impulsivity between 75 Chinese and 75 American students, using Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test. Analyses showed differences and similarities related to country of origin. age and fields of study. For example, the Chinese subjects spent more time reflecting than the American subjects, while both the Chinese and American subjects achieved similar accuracy.

The Psychological Assessment of Impulsivity: A Review

A review of the clinical assessment of impulsivity with common psychological tests is presented. Although the term impulsivity is well known in the field of psychology and psychiatry, there are often misconceptions of the definition of the term and related psychometric aspects on both the empirical and clinical levels. Proposed is a definition that is in agreement with the different perspectives of the concept such that impulsivity is viewed as disordered behavior occurring with little or no premeditation or psychological capacity for delay. The assessment of impulsivity with the Bender Gestalt and Draw-A-Person tests, Wechsler scales, Rorschach, Self-Report, and Behavior Rating Scales cited in Psychological Abstracts and Dissertation Abstracts through 1984 is reviewed. It is concluded that the validity of these tests for assessing impulsivity has yet to be shown due to methodological and conceptual problems.

Cortical thickness of superior frontal cortex predicts impulsiveness and perceptual reasoning in adolescence

Impulsiveness is a pivotal personality trait representing a core domain in all major personality inventories. Recently, impulsiveness has been identified as an important modulator of cognitive processing, particularly in tasks that require the processing of large amounts of information. Although brain imaging studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex to be a common underlying representation of impulsiveness and related cognitive functioning, to date a fine-grain and detailed morphometric analysis has not been carried out. On the basis of ahigh-resolution magnetic resonance scans acquired in 1620 healthy adolescents (IMAGEN), the individual cortical thickness (CT) was estimated. Correlations between Cloninger's impulsiveness and CT were studied in an entire cortex analysis. The cluster identified was tested for associations with performance in perceptual reasoning tasks of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC IV). We observed a significant inverse correlation between trait impulsiveness and CT of the left superior frontal cortex (SFC; Monte Carlo Simulation P<0.01). CT within this cluster correlated with perceptual reasoning scores (Bonferroni corrected) of the WISC IV. On the basis of a large sample of adolescents, we identified an extended area in the SFC as a correlate of impulsiveness, which appears to be in line with the trait character of this prominent personality facet. The association of SFC thickness with perceptual reasoning argues for a common neurobiological basis of personality and specific cognitive domains comprising attention, spatial reasoning and response selection. The results may facilitate the understanding of the role of impulsiveness in several psychiatric disorders associated with prefrontal dysfunctions and cognitive deficits.

A structural analysis of executive functions and socioeconomic status in school-age children: cognitive factors as effect mediators

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-known predictor of cognitive achievement and executive functioning, although the underlying cognitive mediating processes remain unclear. The authors analyze the association between different socioeconomic indicators and the executive functions (EF) of schoolchildren and the possible cognitive mediating factors of this association. The sample included 254 children aged 7-12 years from different SES. The researchers employed a battery of tests to evaluate EF, including the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test task to measure intelligence, and the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20 to assess the reflexivity-impulsivity (R-I) cognitive style. The results indicate a significant effect of SES on all tested EF. Stepwise regression analysis showed that maternal education level and housing conditions were significant predictors of the majority of EF. Structural equation modeling showed that, although SES had effects on intelligence quotient (IQ), R-I cognitive style, and EF, the association between SES and EF is partly explained by cognitive impulsivity but not by IQ scores. Results are discussed in terms of the mediating cognitive variables that may explain the association between SES and EF and their implications for designing effective intervention programs in schools.

Platelet MAO activity and the 5-HTT gene promoter polymorphism are associated with impulsivity and cognitive style in visual information processing

RATIONALE

Low capacity of the central serotonergic system has been associated with impulsive behaviour. Both low platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity and the short (S) allele of the serotonin transporter gene promoter region polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) are proposed to be markers of less efficient serotonergic functioning.

OBJECTIVES

The effect of the two markers for serotonin system efficiency on performance in a visual comparison task (VCT) and self-reported impulsiveness (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, BIS-11) were investigated in healthy adolescents participating in the Estonian Children Personality Behaviour and Health Study. Possible confounding effect of general cognitive abilities on the performance in VCT was controlled for.

RESULTS

Low platelet MAO activity and carrying of the S allele of 5-HTTLPR were both associated with higher error-rate and more impulsive performance in VCT. Platelet MAO activity and 5-HTTLPR S allele had a significant interactive effect on self-reported impulsivity (BIS-11). The effect of platelet MAO activity on both self-reported and performance impulsivity was significant only in the S allele carriers. The effect of 5-HTTLPR S allele on impulsive performance remained significant after controlling for general cognitive abilities.

CONCLUSIONS

The two markers of lower serotonergic capacity, 5-HTTLPR S allele and low platelet MAO activity, have a similar and partly synergistic influence on self-reported as well as performance measures of impulsivity.

Infants with colic: their childhood characteristics

The purpose of this study was to compare 40 six- to eight-year-old children, 20 with prospectively ascertained infantile colic and a matched sample of 20 without colic, on characteristics of emotional regulation and on parent stress. Children completed tests of cognitive ability, and mothers completed childhood behavioral questionnaires and a parenting stress assessment. Children with colic had maternal ratings suggestive of more difficulty with emotional regulation than their noncolic matches and displayed a more impulsive cognitive style. However, the mean scores of both groups were in the normal range.

What ever happened to the norms for the Matching Familiar Figures Test?

The Matching Familiar Figures Test is used almost exclusively to assess cognitive tempo, e.g., impulsive-reflective, etc., in subjects. Although norms for this test were published by Salkind in 1978, a comprehensive review of the literature on cognitive tempo covering 1979 through 1984 showed only 8% of the reviewed studies used the norms. The problems associated with the failure to use norms, most notably, the inability to generalize findings from one sample to another, are covered.

Reflection-impulsivity and WISC-R performance in behavior-problem children

Forty-three emotionally disturbed children, ranging in age from 8 years, 3 months, to 15 years, 6 months, were divided into two groups, impulsive and reflective, on the basis of their cognitive style as measured by the Matching Familiar Figures Test and administered the Wechsler Intellectual Scale for Children-Revised. Reflective children scored significantly higher than the impulsive children on Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, Full Scale IQ, and Kaufman's Perceptual Organization factor. The two groups did not differ significantly on the Freedom from Distractibility or Verbal Comprehension factors. Results were discussed in terms of their relationship to previous findings, with particular attention to factor analytic research with behavior problem children that did not find a Freedom from Distractibility factor and could account for the present findings.