Performance on the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test Battery-Children's Revision: a comparison of children with and without significant WISC-R VIQ-PIQ discrepancies

Abstract

Fifty-six children, aged 8 to 13, were divided into three groups based on the degree and direction of their WISC-R VIQ-PIQ discrepancies. Group 1 was composed of 13 males and 6 females whose PIQ exceeded their VIQ by at least 12 points (V less than P); Group 2 was made up of 12 males and 6 females with VIQs that exceeded their PIQs by 12 or more points (P less than V); Group 3 was comprised of 9 males and 10 females whose V-P differences failed to exceed 8 points in either direction (P = V). The performance of these children on the 11 subscales of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-Children's Revision was compared. Univariate F-tests revealed significant differences among the groups on the Receptive Speech, p less than .01, and Expressive Language subscales, p less than .001. Further analyses that utilized two-tailed t-tests found the V less than P group to perform significantly less well than the P = V group on the Receptive Speech and Expressive Language scales. The V less than P group was also significantly worse than the P less than V group on the Expressive Language scale. These results suggest a possible differential sensitivity of the children's Luria-Nebraska to verbal and nonverbal cognitive deficits.