Gender Differences in Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) Cognitive Processes and Achievement

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1 Joural of Educatioal Psychology 1, Vol. 93. No Copyright 1 by the America Psychological Associatio, Ic /01/S5.00 DOI: // Geder Differeces i Plaig, Attetio, Simultaeous, ad Successive (PASS) Cogitive Processes ad Achievemet Jack A. Naglieri George aso Uiversity Johaes Rojah Ohio State Uiversity Geder differeces i ability ad achievemet have bee studied for some time ad have bee coceptualized alog verbal, quatitative, ad visual-spatial dimesios. Researchers recetly have called for a theory-based approach to studyig these differeces. This study examied 1,100 boys ad 1,100 girls who matched the U.S. populatio usig the Plaig, Attetio, Simultaeous, Successive (PASS) cogitive-processig theory, built o the europsychological work of A. R. Luria (1973). Girls outperformed boys o the Plaig ad Attetio scales of the Cogitive Assessmet System by about 5 poits (d -.30 ad.35, respectively). Geder differeces were also foud for a subsample of 1,266 childre o the Woodcock-Johso Revised Tests of Achievemet Proofig (d =.33), Letter-Word Idetificatio (d =.22), ad Dictatio (d =.22). The results illustrate that the PASS theory offers a useful way to examie geder differeces i cogitive performace. Geder differeces i achievemet ad cogitive ability have bee examied for some time, resultig i a substatial body of literature o the topic (e.g., Deaux, 1984; Feema & Sherma, 1977; Geary, 1989, 1994, 1996; Halper, 1986, 1989, 1997; Li & Peterso, 1985; accoby & Jackli, 1974; Voyer, Voyer, & Bryde, 1995). Some researchers have coceptualized the results of their fidigs withi the cotext of verbal, quatitative, ad visual-spatial abilities. For example, accoby ad Jackli (1974) cocluded that girls usually do better tha boys o verbal tasks. Hyde ad Li (1988) coducted a meta-aalysis of 165 studies of geder differeces i verbal ability ad foud a small mea effect size (favorig girls) of. 11 for studies of studets aged 5-18 years. Importatly, the differeces betwee the geders were ot uiform across tasks. For istace, the effect size for vocabulary was miimal (d =.02) but more substatial for speech productio (d =.33). Geder differeces i quatitative skills also have bee foud. Geary (1996), for example, stated that boys outperform girls o tests that ivolve spatial represetatio of mathematical relatioships, presumably because "the male advatage i certai areas of mathematics (e.g., problem solvig) is related to a male advatage i spatial abilities" (p. 236). Voyer et al. (1995) suggested that the differece i spatial abilities may be as large as 0.94 stadard deviatios ad that the cocept eeds to be examied carefully usig a variety of tests. Girls, o the other had, have bee foud to have a advatage over boys o basic arithmetic tests, at least through juior high school (Hyde, Feema, & Lamo, 1990). Uderstadig the performace differeces betwee the geders is at least partially based o the iterpretatios researchers give to Jack A. Naglieri, Departmet of Psychology, George aso Uiversity; Johaes Rojah, Departmet of Psychology, Ohio State Uiversity. Correspodece cocerig this article should be addressed to Jack A. Naglieri, Departmet of Psychology, S 3F5, George aso Uiversity, Fairfax, Virgiia Electroic mail may be set to jaglier@gmu.edu. the tests used i the various studies. This is made more difficult because may researchers do ot provide clear defiitios of their costructs, the tasks ofte are complex, ad a variety of tests may be used to measure the same costruct. For example, quatitative ability typically is measured o the basis of mathematics achievemet. This meas that items as diverse as basic math facts, log divisio, word problems, oral arithmetic problems, algebra, trigoometry, ad so o may be icluded ad that some topics (e.g., trigoometry) will ot be icluded i tests for youg childre. Similarly, studies that compare girls ad boys i verbal ability could iclude a variety of tasks such as vocabulary, verbal fluecy, ad verbal aalogies that, although all verbal, may have differet cogitive demads ad lead to icosistecy whe measurig the verbal ability costruct. This led Halper (1997) to propose a ew taxoomy. Halper (1997) rejected the verbal, visual-spatial, ad quatitative taxoomy domais. This coceptualizatio may have bee used so ofte because it has bee a superstructure for group ad idividual tests of ability sice the early part of the 19th cetury (Kaufma & Lichteberger, 1999). Although the schema has bee popular i psychology ad educatio for about 100 years, its weakess is apparet both i the study of geder-related differeces ad i itelligece testig (Naglieri, 1999). To replace this orgaizatioal system, Halper (1997) suggested a taxoomy based "o uderlyig cogitive processes [which] offers a more fie-graied aalysis of how iformatio is retrieved from memory ad what participats are doig whe they are workig o a cogitive task." (p. 1092). From this perspective, Halper summarized some of the major fidigs as follows: Girls outperform boys o tests of verbal fluecy, foreig laguage, fie-motor skills, speech articulatio, readig ad writig, ad math calculatio, ad they typically ear higher grades i school i all or most subjects. Boys have bee foud to do better o tasks such as metal rotatio, mechaical reasoig, math ad sciece kowledge, ad verbal aalogies. These tasks were orgaized ito eight areas that appear 430

2 GENDER DIFFERENCES 431 to reflect the uderlyig cogitive processes described by Halper as areas i which girls ad boys differ. Halper's efforts to provide alterative descriptios of the uderlyig cogitive processes, which she used to orgaize a variety of tasks ad her suggested taxoomy, is a importat recogitio of the eed for a carefully articulated perspective, or theory, from which differeces betwee girls ad boys ca be uderstood. chough, Koeske, ad Frieze (1986) argued that geder differeces caot be uderstood adequately uless girls ad boys are compared accordig to a theoretical model of cogitive fuctioig. Geary (1989) further emphasized that coceptual models of cogitive differeces betwee the geders should provide a itegratio of the eurological ad sociocultural compoets that ifluece the developmet of cogitive processes. Similarly, Sterberg (1990) ad Naglieri (1999) stressed the importace of usig a theoretical approach to defie ad measure itelligece, especially whe group differeces are examied, such as whe geders are compared. Naglieri ad Das (1997a) coteded that a theory of cogitive abilities should be based o a europsychologically derived view of processig operatioalized with a welldeveloped test. The Plaig, Attetio, Simultaeous, Successive (PASS) theory described by Das, Naglieri, ad Kirby (1994) is such a theory. The PASS theory is derived from research i europsychology ad cogitive psychology with particular emphasis o the work of Luria (1966,1973,1980). Luria proposed that there are three types of cogitive processes resposible for metal activity associated with three fuctioal uits of the brai. These processes work i cocert to produce behavior ad provide attetio (first uit), simultaeous ad successive processig (secod uit), ad plaig (third uit) cogitive processes. The first fuctioal uit, located i the brai stem ad reticular activatig system (Luria, 1973), provides the brai with the appropriate level of arousal or cortical toe for focused attetio ad resistace to distractio. The secod fuctioal uit (occipital-parietal ad frotal-temporal areas of the brai) is resposible for "receivig, aalyzig ad storig iformatio" (Luria, 1973, p. 67) usig simultaeous ad successive processig. The third fuctioal uit is located i the frotal lobes of the brai (Luria, 1973) ad is resposible for plaig, icludig the programmig, regulatio, ad verificatio of behavior (Luria, 1973). This provides the capability for behavior such as askig questios ad problem solvig ad the capacity for self-moitorig (Das et al., 1994). These processes provide a differet perspective that redefies itelligece withi the cotext of cogitive processes (Naglieri, 1999), which has bee used to study geder-related differeces. Bardos, Naglieri, ad Prewett (1992) were the first to compare the performace of girls ad boys usig the PASS theory. They studied samples of childre i Grades 2, 6, ad 10 (N 434) ad Grades 4 ad 5 (N = 112). I their first study, they used measures of plaig, simultaeous, ad successive cogitive processes ad foud that girls outperformed boys i plaig i Grade 6. I their secod ivestigatio, they foud that girls did better tha boys i plaig i Grades 4 ad 5. This study, however, ivolved small samples ad icosistet measures ad did ot adequately assess the attetio compoet of the PASS theory. Warrick ad Naglieri (1993) examied all four PASS processes usig a sample of boys ad girls i Grades 3, 6, ad 9 (N = 197) ad foud that girls eared sigificatly higher scores o measures of attetio i Grade 3. Differeces betwee the geders were foud at each grade for Plaig (d =.43,.52, ad.35 for Grades 3, 6, ad 9, respectively), but these fidigs were ot sigificat. Relatively small sample sizes ad restrictio i rage limited the geeralizatio of the results of this study. Iitial research o geder differeces usig the PASS theory suggested cogitive differeces betwee the geders (Bardos et al., 1992; Warrick & Naglieri, 1993). These studies were limited because they icluded relatively small samples of childre who were ot represetative of the U.S. populatio ad who were give versios of PASS tasks that required further developmet. They did, however, suggest that the PASS theory could provide a importat taxoomy for uderstadig geder differeces i basic cogitive processes. The goal of the study discussed i this article was to examie girls ad boys o PASS cogitive processes usig a large, atioally represetative sample of childre aged years to determie if differeces exist ad if this theory therefore might provide a potetially viable meas of examiig geder differeces. ethod Participats Participats were 2, girls ad boys aged years. The group's compositio closely reflected the U.S. populatio accordig to age, geder, race, Hispaic origi, paretal educatio, commuity settig, ad geographic regio (see Table 1). The sample was orgaized ito three age groups (, 8 10, ad 11 17) to examie developmetal chages i PASS stadard scores. The sample cotaied approximately equal umbers of girls ad boys who matched each other ad the U.S. populatio. All participats were idividually admiistered PASS tests by traied examiers durig the stadardizatio phase of the Cogitive Assessmet System (CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997b). A portio of the sample was also admi- Table 1 Percetages of Sample Demographic Characteristics by Geder ad for Total Sample Compared With 1992 U.S. Cesus Data Characteristic Race White Black Other Ethicity Hispaic No-Hispaic Paretal educatio < high school High school Some college 4 or more years of college Commuity settig Rural Urba/suburba Geographic regio idwest Northeast South West Boys (N = 1,100) Girls (N = 1,100) Total (N = 2,) U.S. Cesus

3 432 NAGLIERI AND ROJAHN istered the Woodcock-Johso Tests of Achievemet Revised (WJ-R; Woodcock & Johso, 1989). This subsample of 1,266 childre was also represetative of the larger sample ad the U.S. populatio (see Table 2). Cogitive Assessmet System easures The PASS processes were assessed usig the CAS (Naglieri & Das, 1997b), a idividually admiistered test for childre aged years. The CAS is orgaized ito four scales (Plaig, Attetio, Simultaeous, ad Successive) accordig to the PASS theory ad a Full Scale stadard score, each with a mea of 100 ad stadard deviatio of 15. The average iteral reliabilities for the PASS scales are as follows: Plaig =.88; Simultaeous =.93; Attetio =.88; Successive =.93; ad Full Scale =.96. The CAS was stadardized o 2, persos aged 5 years 0 moths to 17 years 11 moths who closely matched the U.S. populatio o the basis of geder, race, ethicity, paretal educatio, commuity settig, geographic regio, classroom placemet, ad educatioal classificatio. Extesive reliability ad validity research was preseted i the CAS Iterpretive Hadbook (Naglieri & Das, 1997a). Naglieri (1999) summarized much of this research ad cocluded that tests based o the PASS theory (a) are sesitive to the problems show by childre with attetio deficit disorder ad readig recodig disabilities: (b) relate to academic achievemet; ad (c) have relevace to itervetio ad istructio. Perhaps most importat, however, the PASS scales' overall correlatio with achievemet i several academic areas (.70, N = 1,600) was higher tha the correlatio betwee the Wechsler Itelligece Scale for Childre Third Editio (Wechsler, 1991) ad achievemet (.59, N = 1,284). Each PASS scale has regularly admiistered subtests. These are described below accordig to the PASS scale to which they belog. Plaig Scale. atchig Numbers cosists of four pages, each cotaiig eight rows of six umbers per row. The child is istructed to uderlie the two umbers i each row that are the same. Numbers icrease i legth from oe digit to seve digits across the four pages, with four Table 2 Percetages of Subsample Demographic Characteristics by Geder ad for Total Sample Compared With 1992 U.S. Cesus Data Race White Black Other Ethicity Hispaic No-Hispaic Paretal educatio < high school High school graduate Some college 4 or more years of college Commuity settig Rural Urba/suburba Geographic regio idwest Northeast South West Boys ( = 619) Girls ( = 647) Total ( = 1,266) U.S. Cesus rows for each digit legth. Each item has a time limit. The subtest score is based o the combiatio of time ad umber correct for each page. Plaed Codes cotais two pages, each with a distict set of codes ad arragemet of rows ad colums. A leged at the top of each page shows how letters correspod to simple codes (e.g., A, B, C, ad D correspod to OX, XX, OO, ad XO, respectively). Each page cotais seve rows ad eight colums of letters without codes. The child is istructed to fill i the appropriate code i the empty box beeath each letter. O the first page, all the As appear i the first colum, all the Bs i the secod colum, all the Cs i the third colum, ad so o. O the secod page, letters are cofigured i a diagoal patter. The child is permitted to complete each page i whatever fashio he or she wishes. The subtest score is based o the combiatio of time ad umber correct for each page. Plaed Coectios cotais 8 items. The first 6 items require the child to coect umbers appearig i a quasi-radom order o a page i sequetial order. The last 2 items require the child to coect both umbers ad letters i sequetial order, alteratig betwee umbers ad letters (e.g., 1-A-2-B-3-C). Items are costructed so that the child ever complete a sequece by crossig oe lie over the other. The subtest score is based o the total amout of time i secods used to complete the items. Attetio Scale. Expressive Attetio uses two differet sets of items depedig o the age of the child. Childre 8 years ad older are preseted with three pages. O the first page, the child reads color words (i.e., BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, ad RED) preseted i quasi-radom order. Next, the child ames the colors of a series of rectagles (prited i blue, yellow, gree, ad red). Fially, the words BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, ad RED are prited i a differet color tha the colors the words ame. The child is istructed to ame the color ik the word is prited i rather tha to read the word. Performace o the last page is used as the measure of attetio. The subtest score is based o the combiatio of time ad umber correct. Number Detectio cosists of pages of umbers that are prited i differet formats. O each page, the child is required to fid a particular stimulus (e.g., the umbers 1, 2, ad 3 prited i a ope fot) o a page cotaiig may distractors (e.g., the same umbers prited i a differet fot). There are 180 stimuli with 45 targets (25% targets) o the pages. The subtest score reflects the ratio of accuracy (total umber correct mius the umber of false detectios) to total time for each item summed across the items. Receptive Attetio is a two-page paper-ad-pecil subtest. O the first page, letters that are physically the same (e.g., TT but ot Tt) are targets. O the secod page, letters that have the same ame (e.g., Aa but ot Ba) are targets. Each page cotais pairs of letters with 50 targets (25% targets) ad the same set of distractors. The subtest score reflects the ratio of accuracy (total umber correct mius the umber of false detectios) to total time for each page summed across the pages. Simultaeous Scale. Noverbal atrices is a 33-item subtest that uses shapes ad geometric desigs that are iterrelated through spatial or logical orgaizatio. The child is required to decode the relatioships amog the parts of the item ad choose the best of six optios to occupy a missig space i the grid. Each matrix item is scored as correct or icorrect. The subtest score is based o the total umber of items correctly aswered. Verbal-Spatial Relatios cosists of 27 items that require the comprehesio of logical ad grammatical descriptios of spatial relatioships. The child is show items cotaiig six drawigs ad a prited questio at the bottom of each page. The items ivolve both objects ad shapes that are arraged i a specific spatial maer. For example, the item, "Which picture shows a circle to the left of a cross uder a triagle above a square?" icludes six drawigs with various arragemets of geometric figures, oly oe of which matches the descriptio. The examier reads the questio aloud, ad the child is required to select the optio that matches the verbal descriptio. The child must idicate his or her aswer withi a 30-s time limit. The subtest score reflects the total umber of items correctly aswered withi the time limit.

4 GENDER DIFFERENCES 433 Figure emory is a 27-item subtest. The child is show a two- or three-dimesioal geometric figure for 5 s. The figure is the removed. The child is preseted with a respose page that cotais the origial desig embedded i a larger, more complex geometric patter. The child is asked to idetify the origial desig embedded withi the more complex figure. To be scored correct, all lies of the desig must be idicated without ay additios or omissios. The subtest score reflects the total umber of correct items. Successive Scale. Word Series requires the child to repeat words i the same order as stated by the examier. The test cosists of the followig 9 sigle-syllable, high-frequecy words: Book, Car, Cow, Dog, Girl, Key, a, Shoe, Wall. The examier reads 27 items to the child. Each series rages i legth from 2 to 9 words. Words are preseted at the rate of 1 word per secod. Items are scored as correct if the child reproduces the etire word series. The subtest score is based o the total umber of items correctly repeated. Setece Repetitio requires the child to repeat 20 seteces that are read aloud. Each setece is composed of color words (e.g., "The blue is yellowig"). The child is required to repeat each setece exactly as preseted. To help reduce the ifluece of simultaeous processig ad accet the demads of the sytax of the setece color words are used so that the seteces cotai little sematic meaig. A item is scored as correct if the setece is repeated exactly as preseted. The subtest score reflects the total umber of seteces repeated correctly. Setece Questios is a 21-item subtest that uses the same type of seteces as those i Setece Repetitio. Childre aged 8-17 are read a setece ad the asked a questio about the setece. For example, the examier says, "The blue is yellowig" ad asks the followig questio: "Who is yellowig?" The correct aswer is "The blue." Resposes are scored as correct if the child successfully aswers the questio regardig the setece. The subtest score reflects the total umber of questios aswered correctly. Woodcock-Johso Tests of Achievemet Revised Nie of the WJ-R subtests icluded i this study are summarized below. Letter-Word Idetificatio. This subtest requires the child to idetify letters ad words. The words are preseted from high frequecy to low frequecy. Comprehesio of the word is ot required. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.94. Passage Comprehesio. This task begis with idetificatio of pictures followed by items that iclude a picture ad setece with a word omitted. ore difficult items ivolve a prited setece with a word omitted. This is a modified cloze procedure, which requires that the child use sytactic ad sematic clues to decide which word best aswers the questio. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.90. Calculatio. This subtest requires the child to solve a variety of math calculatios. Items iclude simple additio to advaced geometry, trigoometry, ad calculus. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.93. Applied Problems. Iitial items i this subtest ivolve basic coutig. The difficulty of items icreases as the word problems become loger ad purely verbal (i.e., o pictorial stimuli are ivolved). edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.92. Dictatio. This subtest measures basic writig skills, puctuatio, capitalizatio, spellig, ad usage. The child respods i writig to the various items. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.91. Word Attack. This subtest requires the child to apply phoic ad structural aalysis skills to proouce osese words that are phoically regular. All of the words follow patters of regular Eglish prouciatio ad spellig but are ovel to the child. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.91. Readig Vocabulary. This subtest cosists of items that test the child's kowledge of syoyms ad atoyms. For the syoym items, the child is asked to provide a word with a similar meaig. Atoyms require the child to produce a word with the opposite meaig. The child is required to read the prited word the provide the aswer. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.93. Quatitative Cocepts. This subtest measures the child's kowledge of basic math terms, sigs, shapes, ad facts. Although may of the items iclude basic math kowledge, some ivolve computatio. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.87. Proofig. This subtest requires the child to fid ad correct writte statemets that iclude puctuatio, spellig, capitalizatio, ad usage errors. edia reliability for the stadardizatio sample is.91. Procedures Participats from throughout the Uited States were icluded i this study if they participated i the stadardizatio of the CAS (see Naglieri & Das, 1997b, for more iformatio o the stadardizatio procedures). After paretal permissio was obtaied, traied examiers admiistered the CAS ad WJ-R, ad specially traied persoel checked all test protocols for accuracy. Stadard scores ( = 100, = 15) were obtaied from the test mauals ad used i all data aalyses. eas ad stadard deviatios were computed by geder ad for the total sample. The differeces betwee the mea stadard scores eared by girls ad boys were first examied by computig d ratios, which describe the differeces betwee the geders i stadard deviatio uits (Cohe, 1988), usig the followig formula: (X, - X 2 )/SQRT 2 *l)/(, + 2 )]. The sigificace of the differeces betwee the geders was examied with a 3 (age group) X 2 (geder) factorial multivariate aalysis of variace with the CAS stadard scores as multiple depedet variables. Idetical aalyses were coducted for the WJ-R stadard scores. Results PASS stadard score meas ad stadard deviatios are provided by geder ad age group ad for the total sample i Table 3. Geder differeces also are preseted, usig d ratios for the four PASS scales ad the Full Scale score. Girls ad boys were similar o the PASS Simultaeous ad Successive Scales (d ratios for all age groups <.12). I cotrast, differeces betwee girls ad boys were apparet o the Plaig ad Attetio Scales. Girls outperformed boys o the Plaig Scale (media d =.34, rage = ) ad the Attetio Scale (media d =.36, rage = ). These d ratios are cosidered small (Cohe, 1988). The d ratios for girls ad boys by age are preseted i Table 3. There were miimal liear developmetal treds for the Plaig, Simultaeous, ad Successive Scales. I cotrast, the Attetio Scale boy/girl d ratios icreased from -.28 (ages ) to -.36 (ages ), to.43 (ages ). Girls outperformed boys o the CAS Full Scale differeces, earig d ratios of.31 at ages, -.19 at ages, ad -.30 at ages. Overall, girls eared Full Scale CAS stadard scores that were about oe-quarter of a stadard deviatio above those of boys. There was a sigificat geder effect across the four Full Scale CAS stadard scores, with a multivariate F(4, 2016) = 24.9, p <.001. There was o sigificat age effect ad o Age X Sex iteractio effect. The geders differed sigificatly i Plaig, F(l, 2019) = 58.1, p <.001, Attetio, multivariate F(l, 2019) = 68.2, p <.001, ad less strogly o Successive processes, multivariate F(l, 2019) = 4.3, p <.05. No sigificat differeces

5 434 NAGLIERI AND ROJAHN Table 3 Sample Sizes, eas, Stadard Deviatios ad d ratios for PASS ad Full Scale Stadard Scores by Age Group ad for the Total Sample Scale Age group (years) Boys Girls Boys/Girls d N Total sample Plaig Attetio Simultaeous Successive Full , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Note. Negative d values idicate that boys eared lower mea scores tha girls. PASS = Plaig, Attetio, Simultaeous, Successive. were foud i Simultaeous processes, multivariate F(l, 2019) = 0.12, p >.05. WJ-R test meas, stadard deviatios, ad d ratios are provided accordig to age ad geder ad for the total sample (see Table 4). Girls ad boys performed similarly o may of the achievemet variables, with some exceptios. Girls aged years outperformed boys o the Proofig (d =.33), Letter-Word Idetificatio (d =.22), ad Dictatio (d =.22) subtests. The total sample of girls aged years also outperformed boys o the Proofig subtest (d =.20). These are the same ages at which the Plaig ad Attetio Scale differeces betwee the geders were most proouced. Sigificat mai effects for geder, multivariate F(9, 1196) = 6.0. p <.001, ad age, multivariate F(18, 2392) = 26.1, p<.001, were show o the WJ-R achievemet scores, but there was o Geder X Age iteractio effect. Girls outperformed boys o the Letter-Word Idetificatio, F(l, 1204) = 4.1, p <.001, Passage Comprehesio, F(l, 1204) = 4.6, p <.001, Dictatio, F(l, 1204) = 6.9, p <.001, ad Proofig, F(l, 1204) = 12.6, p <.001, subtests. Discussio Girls outperformed boys betwee the ages of 5 ad 17 years o measures of Plaig, which is cosistet with iitial suggestios reported by Bardos et al. (1992) ad Warrick ad Naglieri (1993), ad o measures of Attetio, as suggested by Warrick ad Naglieri (1993). A sigificat, formerly udetected, yet much smaller differece to the advatage of girls was also foud i Successive processig. The fidigs from this study that girls ad boys differed i basic PASS cogitive processes are especially importat because these data were obtaied usig a atioal represetative sample of school-aged childre, ad, therefore, the probability of samplig error is cosiderably reduced. oreover, because the sample was represetative of the U.S. populatio, geeralizatio to the wider populatio is more appropriate tha has bee possible from previous research that ivolved smaller, orepresetative samples. Importat, however, is that geder differeces were also foud o the Proofig, Dictatio, Passage Comprehesio, ad Letter-Word Idetificatio achievemet subtests (especially for the year age group), the same age group for which differeces i Plaig ad Attetio were ucovered. These academic tasks ivolve ot oly academic skills but also Plaig ad Attetio processes (Naglieri & Das, 1997a). The higher Plaig ad Attetio scores for girls ad similarly higher scores o the Proofig, Letter-Word Idetificatio, Passage Comprehesio, ad Dictatio subtests is logical give the cogitive processig demads of these tasks. The Proofig items, for example, require the child to fid errors i a writte setece. This demads careful examiatio of the stimuli ad detectio of errors i spellig, puctuatio, ad sytactic ad grammatical structures. These tasks ivolve good attetio ad plaig. Similarly, the Letter-Word Idetificatio ad Dictatio ad subtests require decisios, for example, about (a) what rules are relevat to the task; (b) if the rule ca be applied; (c) if the rule is effective; ad (d) if ot, other ways the task ca be solved, which ivolve plaig. Fially, it has bee well documeted that success i readig comprehesio requires, for example, the use of strategies such as (a) lookig back at the iformatio give, (b) distiguishig relevat from irrelevat iformatio, (c) resistig the distractio caused by irrelevat iformatio, ad (d) usig good methods to aalyze the passage ad aswer the specific questios asked (Pressley, 1998; Pressley & Woloshy, 1995). I additio to the

6 GENDER DIFFERENCES 435 Table 4 Sample Sizes, eas, Stadard Deviatios, ad d ratios for Woodcock-Johso Tests of Achievemet Revised Stadard Scores by Age Group ad for Total Sample Subtest Age group (years) Boys Girls Boys/Girls d Total group Applied Problems Calculatio Dictatio Letter-Word Idetificatio Passage Comprehesio Proofig Quatitative Cocepts Readig Vocabulary Word Attack , , , , , , , , , academic skills ad kowledge required, these activities also especially ivolve Plaig ad Attetio skills, o which girls outperformed boys. As suggested by chough et al. (1986), a theoretical model of cogitive fuctioig ca augmet uderstadig of gederrelated differeces. I particular, Geary's (1989, 1994) recogitio of the relevace of eurological (e.g., brai-behavior) structures ad their correspodig cogitive fuctios (e.g., the PASS coceptualizatio) could be used to better uderstad geder differeces. For example, Geary (1994) stated, "girls ofte show a advatage over boys o basic arithmetic tests, at least through juior high school... related to the tedecy of boys to commit procedural errors whe solvig complex arithmetic problems" (p. 195). He cotiued, writig that boys ted to "use procedures that are correct for some problems but are iappropriately applied to solve other problems" (p. 195). Procedural errors ad misapplicatio of methods ca be uderstood from the PASS theory. Plaig processig is ivolved i makig decisios about how to do thigs, selectio of the best method to complete a problem, moitorig the accuracy of the solutio (e.g., rememberig to check oe's work), ad determiatio of whe the task is accurately completed. The lower Plaig scores eared by the boys i this study provide a cogitive explaatio for these procedural arithmetic errors ad suggest that girls may perform this activity better because of better Plaig processig. The girls' higher scores o the Plaig ad Attetio subtests could be iterpreted as reflectig differet rates of maturatio of the prefrotal cortex, as discussed, for example, by Welsh ad Peigto (1988) ad Welsh, Peigto, ad Groisser (1991). These authors defied executive fuctio as "the ability to maitai a appropriate problem-solvig set for attaimet of a future goal (Luria, 1966)... [icludig] (a) a itetio to ihibit a respose or to defer it to a later more appropriate time, (b) a strategic pla of actio sequeces, ad (c) a metal represetatio of the task" (Welsh & Peigto, 1988, pp ). These cogitive activities are cosistet with defiitios ad descriptios of Plaig ad Attetio (Naglieri, 1999) ad the Luria view o which the PASS theory is based. Research is eeded to closely examie rates of developmet of executive (Plaig) processes ad attetio ad to determie if differet rates are related to differet levels of

7 436 NAGLIERI AND ROJAHN performace i academic tasks such as mathematics ad writte compositio, as aticipated by Das et al. (1994). The fidigs from this study ad the PASS theoretical perspective they are based o also ca be itegrated with results summarized by Halper (1997). Halper cocluded that girls performed better tha boys i verbal fluecy, mathematical calculatio, ad writte laguage all of which have bee described as requirig Plaig processig from the PASS theory (Das et al., 1994; Garofalo. 1986; Naglieri, 1999; Warrick, 1989). Academic activities like these require geeratio of methods for successful task completio (i.e., plas or strategies), self-moitorig of the activity, self-correctio, ad verificatio of completio, all of which are icluded i the coceptualizatio of Plaig as described by Naglieri (1999) followig from Luria (1966). Halper also cocluded that girls perform better tha boys i fie motor skills ad speech articulatio, both of which are associated with the motor orgaizatio ad patterig of speech associated with the frotal lobes (i.e., the Plaig compoet of the PASS theory). Speech articulatio ivolves "orgaizig the muscles of the speech apparatus to form souds or i patterig groups of souds ito words" (Le/.ak, p. 88). The europsychological structures ivolved i speech articulatio also are closely "ivolved i the iitiatio ad programmig of fie had movemets" (Lezak, 1995, p. 88). The fidig that girls are better tha boys i fie motor skills ad speech articulatio described by Halper (1997) is also cosistet with the fidigs of girls' Plaig advatages because Plaig is related to frotal lobe fuctioig (Das et al., 1994). These results have importat implicatios for classroom istructio, especially for boys. Plaig ad Attetio are importat processes that affect may areas of daily life, especially academic performace. The lower scores eared by boys o the Plaig ad Attetio Scales suggest that these childre eed to be taught to pla more thoughtfully ad be more strategic i the thigs they do ad the extet to which they focus their attetio. Plaig is a vital process for decisio makig, self-cotrol, ad selfmoitorig, but it also plays a key role i the ability to make shifts i attetio (Lezak. 1995). There is growig literature o istructioal methods that focus o cogitive processes such as plaig; this work has bee summarized by Ashma ad Coway (1993, 1997). Related texts by Pressley ad Woloshy (1995), astropieri ad Scruggs (1991), ad Scheid (1993) all offer cogitively based istructioal methods that focus o teachig childre to improve their strategic (i.e., plaig) skills. I additio, there has bee research that has specifically focused o teachig childre to be more plaful whe completig mathematics calculatio problems (Naglieri ad Gottlig, 1995, 1997; Naglieri ad Johso. 0). Naglieri ad Gottlig (1995, 1997) ad Naglieri ad Johso (0) provided a Plaig-based istructio to childre with low scores i Plaig ad who performed poorly i mathematics calculatio. The Plaig-based itervetio was desiged to teach childre to (a) be more reflective ad self-evaluative about how they completed the mathematics computatio, (b) moitor their performace, ad (c) focus o the relevat aspects of the work. All three of these studies demostrated that the itervetio, which facilitated Plaig processes, led to improved performace o classroom multiplicatio problems. Naglieri ad Johso (0) showed that childre with a specific weakess i Plaig (without deficits i Attetio, Simultaeous, or Successive processes) improved cosiderably (d = 1.4) over baselie rates i mathematics computatio. That is, helpig childre better use Plaig processes ca have importat implicatios for classroom work. Give that boys perform more poorly tha girls i Plaig, ad girls outperform boys i mathematics calculatio, itervetios that focus o strategy use for boys seems warrated. Additioally, methods that teach strategy use (e.g., Ashma & Coway, 1997; Pressley, 1988; Pressley ad Woloshy, 1995) should be used with girls to help them perform better i areas such as metal rotatio, mechaical reasoig, ad verbal aalogies. Differeces i basic psychological processes of Plaig ad Attetio were foud, ad although ot large, they were importat because differeces i some areas of achievemet were also foud. Future research should be coducted to determie if the differeces i academic achievemet could be attributed to these differeces i cogitive processig. It also will be importat to also determie if the geder differeces are cosistet across demographic variables ad if these differeces ca be iflueced by itervetios desiged to improve performace i cogitive processig. 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