Cross-modal and intramodal transfer as predictors of mental development in full-term and preterm infants

Abstract

Full-term and preterm infants who had participated in studies of cross-modal and intramodal transfer at 12 months of age were seen at older ages to assess the predictive validity of these early measures for later cognition. Full-term infants were administered the Bayley scales at 24 months; preterm infants were administered these scales at 12 and 24 months, the Stanford-Binet at 34 and 40 months, the WISC-R (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised) at 6 years, and the Beery Test of Visual-Motor Integration at 6 years. The cross-modal measure assessed infants' ability to transfer information across modalities by visually recognizing the shape of an object previously explored tactually, whereas the intramodal measure assessed their ability to visually recognize the shape of objects they had previously seen. For full-term infants, both 12-month measures were significantly related to 24-month Bayley MDI scores; for preterm infants, both 12-month measures proved to be related not only to 24-month Bayley MDI, but to each subsequent measure of cognitive outcome through 6 years. In addition, 12-month intramodal scores were highly correlated with the 6-year assessment of visual-motor integration. A measure of object permanence obtained at 12 months was also related to cognitive outcome, but not so consistently as were the other two 12-month measures. Although parental education emerged as a significant predictor beginning at 24 months, multiple regression analyses indicated that the cross-modal and intramodal measures substantially increased the percentage of variance in outcome that could be accounted for by parental education alone. Neither 12-month Bayley scores nor various perinatal measures bore any significant relation to the outcome measures. © 1985 American Psychological Association.