Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;28(1):1-13.
doi: 10.1080/09297049.2021.1938987. Epub 2021 Jun 14.

Assessing processing speed among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A match-to-sample paradigm

Aaron J Kaat  1 , Forrest J McKenzie  2   3 , Rebecca H Shields  2 , Erica LaForte  1 , Jeanine Coleman  4 , Claire Michalak  5 , David R Hessl  2
Affiliations

Assessing processing speed among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A match-to-sample paradigm

Aaron J Kaat et al. Child Neuropsychol. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Speeded Matching (SpM) is a new processing speed match-to-sample test within the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery. It was designed to developmentally extend feasibility to younger children or individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). SpM reduces cognitive demands to tapping an identical match as opposed to judging and indicating whether two stimuli are identical. In this study, we piloted SpM among 148 participants with fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, or other intellectual disabilities (chronological age mean = 17.8 years, sd = 5.4; nonverbal mental age mean = 65 months, sd = 19.4). SpM had a high feasibility (96%) and internal consistency (rxx = 0.98). It converged well with other measures of processing speed, fluid cognition, and nonverbal mental age and diverged appropriately from crystallized cognitive skills. The correlation between nonverbal mental age and SpM in the IDD sample was not significantly different than the correlation between chronological age and SpM in a separate sample of 118 neurotypical children (age mean = 3.9 years sd = 0.8). This study provides initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the new SpM task, which may be appropriate as an outcome measure of processing speed for future clinical trials. It is more feasible than tasks designed for adults; it is brief, easy to administer, and engaging for young children and older individuals with lower mental ages associated with IDD.

Keywords: Down syndrome; NIH Toolbox; Processing speed; cognition; fragile X syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Practice item from Speeded Matching
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Relationship between Age in Months and Number Correct per Second
GP-CA=General Population—Chronological Age; IDD-MA=Intellectual or Developmental Disability—Nonverbal Mental Age
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bauer PJ, Dikmen SS, Heaton RK, Mungas D, Slotkin J, & Beaumont JL (2013). III. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): measuring episodic memory. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78(4), 34–48. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brosseau-Liard PE and Birch SA (2010), ‘I bet you know more and are nicer too!’: what children infer from others’ accuracy. Developmental Science, 13: 772–778. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00932.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carlozzi NE, Beaumont JL, Tulsky DS, & Gershon RC (2015). The NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison Processing Speed Test: Normative Data. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 30(5), 359–368. doi:10.1093/arclin/acv031 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carlozzi NE, Tulsky DS, Kail RV, & Beaumont JL (2013). VI. NIH TOOLBOX COGNITION BATTERY (CB): MEASURING PROCESSING SPEED. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78(4), 88–102. doi:10.1111/mono.12036 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deary IJ, Liewald D, & Nissan J (2011). A free, easy-to-use, computer-based simple and four-choice reaction time programme: The Deary-Liewald reaction time task. Behavior Research Methods, 43(1), 258–268. doi:10.3758/s13428-010-0024-1 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types