Speed of Processing: Tests and Factor Structure

Abstract

In the present study we examined Speed of Processing derived from a number of cognitive tests; the response speeds were nearly automatic for tests with minimal cognitive load. The tests were given to students across ages from 8 to 20 in schools and colleges located in various parts of India. The structure of the constellation of the test responses was determined by factor analyses. We report one stable factor of speed for ages 8-10 that splits into two separate but correlated factors for ages 11-14,15-17, and 18-20 representing speed of response to tests that contain letters and numbers versus colour stimuli. Developmental changes in response speed across the four adjacent age groups were examined; the trajectory was not consistently incremental, especially for naming colours that did not increase beyond age 11-14.In conclusion, a fairly reasonable deconstruction of the concepts  of RAN has been presented in this report. The major components are  encoding and articulation, and the necessity  of distinguishing alpha-numeric naming time  and colour naming. The later requires the additional time for semantic access. At the end, we suggest that in a follow-up research RAN(alpha-numeric&colour) should be viewed as a part of a broader cognitive speed of processing.Our objective is to determine the association between tests of basic executive processes such as cognitive flexibility,attention &inhibition and working memory on the one hand and speed on the other.Consequently not to search for the tests that would  not involve speed, but be aware of the value of  the correlation of an executive  test with sp eed.This will be useful information or example in investigations into the effect of ageing on executive functions. A worthy agenda for future research.

Keywords: Rapid Automatic Naming(RAN),Developmental Changes, Executive Functions

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-30-11

Publication date:October 31^st 2022