Computerised assessment of an analogical reasoning test: Effects of external memory strategies and their positive outcomes in young children and adolescents with intellectual disability
Caroline Denaes Bruttin · Educational and Child Psychology · 2011
Analogical reasoning involves the comparison of elements as well as the memorisation of relations. People with moderate intellectual disability (MID) have a shorter memory span compared to typically developing children. Usually, they show lower performances in analogical reasoning tests because of their memory limitations. We investigated if external memories could enable students with MID to succeed in analogies as well as typically developing children of the same mental age. We created a computerised analogical reasoning test using a touch screen. Our test is composed of 2×2 analogical matrices, all composed of familiar pictures and relations. This test is administered in two versions: The classic version, similar to traditional tests, requires an individual to memorise all the relations involved in order to discover the solution, whereas the construction version requires an individual to construct the answer part by part by using external memories, which potentially increase success by unloading the memory. Our results showed that people with MID reached results close to children of the same mental age in the classic version, and equal scores in the construction version. We also noticed the beneficial effects of the touch screen computer, which enhanced the motivation of all our participants. They were able to maintain their attention twice or three times longer than their usual attention span. Moreover, the touch screen computer enabled the MID participants to overcome their motor skill difficulties, which usually hampered them from manipulating the computer efficiently.