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This study adds to the existing literature on the ability to understand irony of typically developing versus gifted students (aged 12–15). In addition to the canonical condition of polarized statements applied to oppositely polarized situations, we also considered the case of intermediate statements and situations. The results showed a significant difference between the two groups of participants. Both groups recognized an ironic interpretation in the more usual condition of a polarized statement applied to a clearly oppositely polarized situation and they also grasped the idea that the bigger the contrast, the more ironic the message. However, gifted students demonstrated greater mastery, with regard to both polarized and intermediate statements. They also demonstrated greater ability compared with their non-gifted peers in the task which required them to explain the “rule” underlying the conditions which applied to the comments they had judged as ironic and to then produce ironic stories demonstrating the specificity of irony (not to be confused with generic humor). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This commentary is focused on Robert Sternberg’s (see record 2018-07419-003) new Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model. The new model is well conceived and goes far beyond existing models. It is especially attractive in that the emphasis is on ethics. Now more than ever before there is a clear need for education to support ethical reasoning and behavior, and if this is coupled with active and concerned citizenship, as Sternberg proposes, we may find talents that are as of yet untapped and enormously useful for society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The author investigated the capability of aesthetic perceptual judgment of music in male children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when compared to age-matched typically developing (TD) male children. Nineteen boys between 4 and 7 years of age with ASD were compared to 28 TD boys while listening to musical stimuli of different aesthetic levels. The results from two musical experiments using the above participants, are described here. In the first study, responses to a Mozart minuet and a dissonant altered version of the same Mozart minuet were compared. In this first study, the results indicated that both ASD and TD males preferred listening to the original consonant version of the minuet over the altered dissonant version. With the same participants, the second experiment included musical stimuli from four renowned composers: Mozart and Bach’s musical works, both considered consonant in their harmonic structure, were compared with music from Schoenberg and Albinoni, two composers who wrote musical works considered exceedingly harmonically dissonant. In the second study, when the stimuli included consonant or dissonant musical stimuli from different composers, the children with ASD showed greater preference for the aesthetic quality of the highly dissonant music compared to the TD children. While children in both of the groups listened to the consonant stimuli of Mozart and Bach music for the same amount of time, the children with ASD listened to the dissonant music of Schoenberg and Albinoni longer than the TD children. As preferring dissonant music is more aesthetically demanding perceptually, these results suggest that ASD male children demonstrate an enhanced capability of aesthetic judgment of music. Subsidiary data collected after the completion of the experiment revealed that absolute pitch ability was prevalent only in the children with ASD, some of whom also possessed extraordinary musical memory. The implications of these results are discussed with reference to the broader notion of neurodiversity, a term coined to capture potentially gifted qualities in individuals diagnosed with ASD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In this response to Sternberg’s (see record 2018-07419-003) article, “ACCEL: A New Model for Identifying the Gifted,” we agree that IQ testing may have outlasted its usefulness as an identification tool for gifted students. The field’s commitment to an imperfect formula has neglected the evolution of offerings in schools and theoretical underpinnings that are moving us away from an outdated conception of giftedness. IQ testing should be reserved for finding specific forms of high ability and as a diagnostic tool, not as a gatekeeper that continues to perpetuate the underrepresentation of some groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine rare vocabulary produced in the spoken narratives of school-age African American children. Method: Forty-three children from general and gifted classrooms produced 2 narratives: a personal story and a fictional story that was based on the wordless book Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). The Wordlist for Expressive Rare Vocabulary Evaluation (Mahurin-Smith, DeThorne, & Petrill, 2015) was used to tally number and type of uncommon words produced in these narratives. The authors used t tests and logistic regressions to explore classroom- and narrative-type differences in rare vocabulary production. Correlational analysis determined the relationship between dialect variation and rare vocabulary production. Results: Findings indicated that tallies of rare-word types were higher in fictional narratives, whereas rare-word density—a measure that controls for narrative length—was greater in personal narratives. Rare-word density distinguished children in general classrooms from those in gifted classrooms. There was no correlation between dialect variation and rare-word density. Conclusion: Examining school-age African American children’s facility with rare vocabulary production appears to be a dialectneutral way to measure their narrative language and to distinguish gifted children from typically developing children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

It has been argued that there may be a higher proportion of exceptional intelligence profiles and giftedness among children with learning disorders (LD) than among typically developing (TD) children, but this impression is only based on anecdotal evidence concerning famous individuals. In a large dataset of 1413 intellectual profiles of children with a diagnosis of LD (assessed with the WISC-IV scale), the proportion of children with an overall intelligence quotient higher than 130 was <1%, well below the proportion expected in the typical population (2.28%). It has been claimed, however, that the WISC-IV general ability index (GAI) may better represent the central aspects of intelligence, particularly in the case of children with LD, and using the GAI criterion, the gifted children amounted to 3.75% of the LD population analyzed. Aspects relating to working memory and processing speed, as measured by the WISC-IV, were also examined, and gifted children with LD had higher scores in both components than the other children with LD, but lower scores than equally “gifted” TD children. The various aspects of intelligence revealed significantly different age-related growth trajectories: at a younger age, gifted children with LD resembled gifted TD children in terms of working memory phonological aspects, but the former fell behind the latter as they grew older; the opposite was true of the processing speed aspects of intelligence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

An understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, and achievement profiles of students with giftedness and learning disabilities (G&LD) is needed to address their asynchronous development. This study examines the subtests and error factors in the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement–Third Edition (KTEA-3) for strength and weakness patterns of students with G&LD in higher and lower level thinking skills by comparing G&LD students ( n = 196) with academically gifted (GT; n = 69) and specific learning disability (SLD) students ( n = 90). Several one-way MANCOVAs were conducted with subtest error factor scores as dependent variables and grouping variable (G&LD, GT, or SLD) as the independent variable. The G&LD means scores across subtests were in between the two control groups. On many higher level thinking tasks, the G&LD group scored similar to the gifted group. The results support the use of error analysis to gain further understanding into the profile of students with G&LD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In order to achieve the present study’s goal—to understand better the phenomenon of mathematical giftedness—we performed a multidimensional examination of the mental processing in students who exhibited mathematical expertise (EM) at the secondary school level. The study included participants from the three groups: students who excelled in school mathematics but were not identified as generally gifted (NG-EM), generally gifted excelling in mathematics (G-EM) students, and students with superior performance in mathematics (S-MG). The research integrated three salient dimensions of mental processing: domain-general cognitive traits, domain-specific (mathematical) creativity, and neuro-cognitive functioning expressed in event-related potentials (ERPs) when solving mathematical problems. In the three study dimensions, we found four types of characteristics of S-MG students: accumulative, G-related, unique and unraveling. This paper defines and exemplifies the characteristics of the four types. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Mathematically gifted children/adolescents have demonstrated exceptional abilities and traits in logical reasoning, mental imagery, and creative thinking. In the field of cognitive neuroscience, the past studies on mathematically gifted brains have concentrated on investigating event-related brain activation regions, cerebral laterality of cognitive functions, functional specialization that is uniquely dedicated for specific cognitive purposes, and functional interactions among discrete brain regions. From structural and functional perspectives, these studies have witnessed both “general” and “unique” neural characteristics of mathematically gifted brains. In this article, the theoretical background, empirical studies, and neurocognitive mechanisms of mathematically gifted children/adolescents are reviewed. Based on the integration of the findings, some potential directions for the future research are identified and discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The following article reports findings concerning effects of a mentoring programme for advancing the capability of gifted and highly motivated students. This programme is part of an enrichment programme at "Salvatorkolleg", a grammar school in Bad Wutzach, Germany. This research has been guided by the theory of Personality-Systems-Interactions (PSI theory). The programme included a teacher-student mentoring procedure based on feedback of students' self-competencies assessed by the TOP-system (Training-Oriented-Personality Assessment) which was also used for evaluating the progiamme. Results reveal improvements in several self-competencies (e. g.: concentration, self-determined instead of competitive achievement motivation, initiative). Some of those improvements could be attributed to assessment-based counseling by teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract) Resumen en idioma originalEs wird ein Mentoringprogramm zur Potenzialfordemng uberdurchschnittlich begabter und leistungsinteressierter Schiilerinnen und Schiiler im Rahmen eines Enrichmentangebotes des Gymnasiums SalvatorkoUeg (Bad Wutzach) dargestellt. Die theoretischen Grundlagen des Programms (Theorie der Persdnlichkeits-System-Intetaktionen: PSI-Theorie) und die diagnostische Begleitung durch das TOP-System (Trainingsbegleitende Osnabriicker Petsonlichkeitsdiagnosdk) werden edautert. Die berichteten Befiinde zur Evaluation des Projekts zeigen, dass vor allem die auf den individuellen diagnostischen Ergebnissen basietenden Feedbackgesprache verschiedene Selbstkompetenzen verbessern (z. B. Konzenttadon, selbstbestimmte statt konkurrenzorientierte Leistungsmotivadon, Initiative). Da diese Effekte beobachtet weiden, obwohl die Kompetenzentwicklung im Rahmen des mentoriellen Programms nicht direkt angesprochen wird, wird erortett, inwieweit sie durch eine entsprechende Haltung der Lehrkraft ermdglicht werden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This paper provides empirical findings from four different sources that lend credence to the deep-and-wide (DAW) hypothesis (Wong, 2012) in accounting for giftedness and creativity. The DAW hypothesis posits that difficult experiences and negative emotions motivate individuals to dig deeper into their inner resources and explore wider their external resources to find a creative solution to their distressing problems. To the extent that these endeavors are reinforced in these individuals’ early developmental stages, they will develop the predisposition of persistence, resourcefulness, and creativity. Therefore, there are two potential contributing factors resulting from negative experiences: a history of reinforcement of creative persistence and current difficult circumstances. The DAW hypothesis is supported by (1) experimental evidence, (2) biographical research on traumatic life experiences in early stages of development, (3) awareness of aging and death, and (4) struggling with psychopathology and suffering. Applications of the DAW hypothesis are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The exploratory study searches to evaluate the question on how knowledge about gifted education—as a topic still underrepresented in the legislation and educational research in Italy—is spread within a population of either school teachers and students studying to become school teachers. Therefore, this work marks an important step towards the goal of improving the knowledge of teaching methods, and emphasizes strategies of inclusion by exploring different approaches in order to facilitate the recognition of the special educational needs of gifted children. In this research participated 70 third and fourth semester university students following the courses SDE (Scienze dell’ Educazione), EPC (Educatore Professionale di Comunità) and SFP (Scienze della Formazione Primaria) during the academic year 2016/17, and 35 teachers of primary and secondary schools. The results indicate that gifted education has been widely excluded from special and inclusive education practices, and bring into focus the need to reflect critically on service and preservice teaching preparation. In order to eventually increase the quality of education, and to outline the operating practices towards gifted education, it seems inevitable to deepen this approach with further qualitative and quantitative research. Therefore, the present study confirms the key role of the inclusive teacher towards fulfilling the special educational needs of a student with high cognitive potential. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract) Resumen en idioma originalIl contributo descrive una ricerca a carattere esplorativo volta a individuare le rappresentazioni dei futuri insegnanti e degli insegnanti in servizio nei confronti della plusdotazione, un costrutto che nel nostro Paese ottiene una limitata attenzione sia da parte del legislatore, sia per quanto riguarda la ricerca in ambito scolastico. La finalità sottesa all’indagine è stata quella di esplorare possibili modalità per migliorare il riconoscimento dei bisogni educativi speciali degli studenti plusdotati, soprattutto per quanto riguarda la conoscenza delle strategie didattiche per garantirne l’inclusione. Complessivamente hanno partecipato alla ricerca 35 insegnanti di scuola primaria e di scuola secondaria di primo grado (in servizio nell’anno scolastico 2016/17) e 70 studenti universitari frequentanti nell’a.a. 2016/17 la seconda annualità dei corsi di laurea SDE (Scienze dell’Educazione), EPC (Educatore Professionale di Comunità) e SFP (Scienze della Formazione Primaria). Le loro rappresentazioni hanno messo in evidenza una estromissione della plusdotazione dall’ambito della «special and inclusive education». Un dato che ha permesso di problematizzare criticamente la formazione iniziale e in servizio degli insegnanti e degli educatori, e di tratteggiare percorsi operativi a favore della «Gifted education», da approfondire con ulteriori indagini di tipo quali-quanitativo. Nell’ottica che valorizza il ruolo essenziale dei docenti nella realizzazione dell’inclusione, il presente lavoro conferma la tendenza che affida agli insegnanti inclusivi e competenti un ruolo essenziale nel soddisfare e valorizzare i bisogni educativi speciali dello studente con alto potenziale cognitivo. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Based on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness, this article introduces a learning-resource-oriented approach for gifted education. It provides a comprehensive categorization of learning resources, including five exogenous learning resources termed educational capital and five endogenous learning resources termed learning capital. Evidence from the literature is presented that supports the validity of each of the categories. Finally, 12 implications of a learning resource orientation for gifted education are discussed in relation to four areas: gifted education orientations, gifted identification, gifted education principles, and gifted learning resources management. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Most mathematical cognition research has focused on understanding normal adult function and child development as well as mildly and moderately impaired mathematical skill, often labeled developmental dyscalculia and/or mathematical learning disability. In contrast, much less research is available on cognitive and neural correlates of gifted/excellent mathematical knowledge in adults and children. In order to facilitate further inquiry into this area, here we review 40 available studies, which examine the cognitive and neural basis of gifted mathematics. Studies associated a large number of cognitive factors with gifted mathematics, with spatial processing and working memory being the most frequently identified contributors. However, the current literature suffers from low statistical power, which most probably contributes to variability across findings. Other major shortcomings include failing to establish domain and stimulus specificity of findings, suggesting causation without sufficient evidence and the frequent use of invalid backward inference in neuro-imaging studies. Future studies must increase statistical power and neuro-imaging studies must rely on supporting behavioral data when interpreting findings. Studies should investigate the factors shown to correlate with math giftedness in a more specific manner and determine exactly how individual factors may contribute to gifted math ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article presents a new theory of talent development, evolving complexity theory (ECT), in the context of the changing theoretical directions as well as the landscape of gifted education. I argue that gifted education needs a new foundation that provides a broad psychosocial basis than what the notion of giftedness can afford. A focus on talent development rather than giftedness should be based on a theory of talent development that is truly developmental, treating the developing person as an open, dynamic, and adaptive system, changing oneself adaptively while interacting with environmental opportunities and challenges. To introduce ECT, I first delineate the meaning and significance of four dimensions or “parameters” of talent development undergirding this new theory: domain, person, development, and culture. I then describe how ECT explicates the developmental processes and transitions as the result of human adaptations to environmental opportunities and challenges. More specifically, ECT uses the constructs of characteristic and maximal adaptation to elucidate how domain, person, development, and culture jointly shape a particular line of talent development, and how cognitive, affective, and social processes interact to push and sustain a critical transition from characteristic adaptation to maximal adaptation, eventually leading to high-caliber performance and creative productivity. I finally discuss the theoretical contributions and practical utilities of ECT for future research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Over the past few decades, systemic thinking has gained in popularity in developmental and learning sciences. The trend has, however, shown up in gifted education research only occasionally. The aim of this article is to introduce systemic thinking to the field of giftedness and explore possibilities for its application. In the first part, a definition of a system is provided and basic concepts of systemic thinking are introduced. In the second part, a full-fledged systemic model is introduced, the actiotope model of giftedness. In the third part, implications for gifted education are elaborated. In the discussion, the authors explain (a) how systemic thinking can make a valuable contribution to gifted education, (b) why systemic thinking will complement rather than replace current approaches to gifted education, and (c) the necessity of combining systemic thinking with other empirically testable theories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) is taken as an important tool to understand the emotional development of gifted children. It is a theory of personality development which emphasizes the role of emotions in the human developmental potential. The purpose of this study is to present the central concepts of TPD and their contributions to the field of giftedness. It is emphasized the concept of overexcitabilities, which, besides being regarded as an indicator of giftedness, represents a key construct to the development of measures and to the promotion of interventions which focus is the personality and emotional characteristics of gifted children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract) Resumen en idioma originalA Teoria da Desintegração Positiva (TDP), proposta por Dabrowski, constitui importante ferramenta para a compreensão do desenvolvimento emocional de superdotados. Trata-se de uma teoria do desenvolvimento da personalidade que enfatiza o papel desempenhado pelas emoções no potencial de desenvolvimento humano. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar conceitos centrais da TDP e suas contribuições para a área da superdotação. É enfatizado o conceito de sobre-excitabilidade, que, além de ser considerado um indicador de superdotação, representa um construto chave para o desenvolvimento de medidas e para promoção de intervenções que tenham como foco as características de personalidade e emocionais dos superdotados. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Robert Sternberg’s (see record 2018-07419-003) Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) framework provides a helpful way to align gifted education with the complexities of 21st-century socioeconomic and cultural environments. The recommendation that we shift away from pseudoquantitative precision in conceptions of giftedness aligns with similar recommendations in other fields including political science, economics, and mathematics. The emphases on ethics and wisdom are reinforced by analyses of the need for more ethical awareness in societies. These analyses arise from research and theory in other fields, including ethical philosophy, political science, economics, history, sociology, and journalism. These transdisciplinary similarities are interpreted to be conceptual triangulation supporting the importance of Sternberg’s model as a catalyst for the development of more holistic conceptions of giftedness and talent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

In this article, we provide a response to the Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model put forward by Sternberg (see record 2018-07419-003). Our commentary focuses on four critical areas that do not receive sufficient attention in Sternberg’s proposed model: (a) the developmental nature of giftedness; (b) that giftedness is domain specific, particularly at later stages in the talent development process; (c) the challenge in applying ACCEL in the real world of schools; and (d) whether the arts and other performance areas are compelled to have an ethical theme in order to be valuable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The relationships between low competency teasing, academic self-concept, and academic outcomes (i.e., GPA and academic psychological engagement) were analyzed using data from approximately 200 artistically and academically gifted students (62.2% female) recruited from two high schools. Results demonstrated two significant models for academic outcomes: the negative relationship between low academic competency teasing and GPA was mediated by academic self-concept, and the negative relationship between low academic competency teasing and academic psychological engagement was mediated by academic self-concept. When the sample was split based on giftedness domain, the mediation using GPA was significant only for academically gifted students, whereas the mediation using academic psychological engagement was significant only for artistically gifted students. All mediations were confirmed using Sobel's test (1982). Results suggest that academic self-concept is a significant variable partially mediating the effects of teasing on gifted students' academic outcomes. Furthermore, giftedness domain should be emphasized because academic outcomes may vary by domain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)