Refliction-Impulsivity and Verbal Control of Motor Behavior

The relationship between reflection-impulsivity, as assessed by Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures test, and verbal control of motor behavior was examined with 30 kindergarten children. The verbal control of the words faster and slower on a finger tapping response and and don't push on a Luria depression task was examined under overt and covert self-instructional conditions. Under covert self-instructions impulsive children on the depression task evidenced significantly less verbal control of inhibitory motor behavior and greater magnitude of errors than reflective children. The only difference revealed on the tapping task was that impulsive children were more likely to use self-instructions in a motoric manner, whereas reflective children relied more on the semantic content of their speech. Sex differences, the differential effectiveness of overt versus covert self-instructions, and the relationship with performance on the Primary Mental Abilities test were also examined.