Validating a Cognitive Ability Testing Protocol With Lao Children for Community Development Applications

Case Western Reserve UniversityThe emergence of the sociocultural perspective in cross-cultural psychology has discouraged theadaptation of standardized tests in nonindustrialized settings. Yet, cognitive assessments areneeded for monitoring the effects of nutritional, health, and educational interventions. Forty-sevenLao children 5 to 12 years of age completed the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children(K-ABC), the Tactual Performance Test (TPT), and the computerized Tests of Variables ofAttention (TOVA). TPT performance measures were related to physical (nutritional) develop-ment, whereas the K-ABC global cognitive ability indicators were sensitive to parental educationand quality of home environment. TOVA performance was related to K-ABC global performanceand TPT memory, suggesting thai Ihese measures are at least partially undergirded by attentionalability. Sociocultural concerns aside, these findings suggest that validated neuropsychological andcognitive assessments can be adapted that effectively tap basic and universal brain-behavior traits.Emphasized throughout the international developmentalliterature is the need for evaluative techniques with at-riskchildren that are culturally valid yet sensitive to the cognitivebenefits derived from educational and health interventions(Alvarez, 1982, 1983; Boivin, Giordani, & Bornefeld, 1995;Giordani, Boivin, Opel, Nseyila, & Lauer, 1996; Maj et al.,1991). There has been much debate on evaluative criteria forculture-fair cognitive ability tests, with the recent consensusemphasizing the importance of the ecological validity of suchmeasures (Helms, 1992). Complicating efforts to address this need is the fact thatcross-cultural psychology, and particularly cognitive psychol-ogy as considered from a cross-cultural standpoint, seems to bein the midst of a major paradigmatic shift. Rogoff andChavajay (1995) have described "the transformation of re-search on cognition and culture from cross-cultural compari-sons of psychological tasks to theory and research on people'sthinking in sociocultural activities" (p. 859). In this importantMichael J. Boivin, Department of Psychology, Spring Arbor College,and Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan; ChantaravadyChounramany, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane. Laos; Bruno Giordani,Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan: Somchanh Xaisida,Layet Choulamountry, and Phonethep Pholsena, Maternal and ChildHealth Institute, Vientiane, Laos; Cheryl L. Crist, Department ofPsychology, Spring Arbor College; Karen Olness, Department ofPediatrics, Case Western Reserve University.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed toMichael J. Boivin, who is now at the Department of Psychology,Indiana Wesleyan University, 4201 South Washington Street, Marion,Indiana 46953. Electronic mail may be sent via Internet tomboivin@indwes.edu. review, they noted emerging directions of research and theoryin cross-cultural psychology based largely on the sociocultural-historical theory of Vygotsky and his colleagues (Kozulin,1990; van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991; Wertsch, 1991). Thisapproach is based on the fundamental precept that cognition isbest understood by analyzing the day-to-day social functionsand activities in which thinking occurs. "Researchers cannotjust look at individual thinking in a vacuum, as thoughindividual thinking is separate from the kinds of activities inwhich people engage and the kinds of situations of which theyare a part" (Rogoff & Chavajay , 1995 p . 866)In light of this approach, what is essentially at issue fordevelopmental neuropsychology is the extent to which univer-sal features of brain-behavior development and cognitiveability can be assessed in a similar manner in a variety ofcultural contexts. Is the cultural context of daily social interac-tions and adaptations paramount in interpreting cognitiveability or development at any level? Or is it possible to tap acommon neuropsychological framework that underlies a child'sthinking and behavior within the particular culture? Thepresent study attempted to probe this issue as part of an effortto validate a cognitive assessment battery for potential use indocumenting the impact of community, educational, andhealth intervention programs expected to enhance children'sdevelopment.In designing such a battery, measures representing threemajor approaches to developmental assessment were consid-ered: neuropsychological assessment of brain-behavior func-tion, broad-based and multifaceted assessment of cognitiveability, and a specialized assessment of a basic cognitiveprocess. The Tactual Performance Test (TPT), a nonvisual,