The validity of the Junior Brixton Spatial Rule Attainment Test in 6- to 8- year-old Turkish children

Abstract

The present study investigated the validity of an executive function (EF) measure, the Junior Brixton Spatial Rule Attainment Test (JBSRAT) in relation with another EF tool, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a working memory (WM) test, namely Backward Digit Span (BDS), and a fluid intelligence (FI) measure, which is the nonverbal battery of Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT®). Aims of the study were to explore (1) the internal structures of the JBSRAT and the WCST; (2) the relationships among EF, WM, and FI; and (3) effects of demographic variables (i.e. age, gender, grade, type of school, and maternal education) on measures of EF, WM, and FI. One hundred and twenty five 6- to 8-year-old Turkish students participated, but data of 121 students were used in the statistical analyses. Results suggested that the JBSRAT and the WCST have similar components: concept formation and perseveration. The concept formation scores in two EF tests were correlated, but perseveration factors were distinct from each other. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between BDS and nonverbal CogAT® (r = .42). Nonverbal CogAT® was also significantly correlated with 6 scores of the WCST and 2 scores of the JBSRAT, indicating a significant relationship between EF and FI. Finally, it is found that maternal education was a significant covariate for 4 scores of the WCST, 3 scores of the JBSRAT, and the BDS score. Effects of age, gender, grade, and type of school were not statistically significant for any of the EF, WM, and FI measures, except the effect of gender on the JBSRAT. In JBSRAT, the main effect of gender and the interaction between age and gender were statistically significant.