A longitudinal factor analytic study of children's neurocognitive abilities.
The neurocognitive abilities of 503 Portuguese children aged 8-11.9 years at onset of the study were assessed annually for 8 years in 3 functional domains: memory, motor and visual motor functions, and attention. A series of exploratory principal axis factor analyses, with varimax rotation, revealed seven factors: Divided Attention, Selective Attention, Verbal Learning and Recall, Visual Learning and Recall, Motor Speed, Visual-Motor Speed, and Working Memory. The same factors emerged across the 8-year period, suggesting that children's neurocognitive structures are articulated and stable throughout this period of development. From these exploratory analyses a small set of cost-effective neuropsychological tests were found to characterize children's functioning consistently throughout the 8-year period.
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. btownes@u.washington.edu
Brenda D
BD
Townes
Gail
G
Rosenbaum
Michael D
MD
Martin
Isabel P
IP
Martins
Henrique
H
Luis
Mario
M
Bernardo
D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology