VERBAL SKILLS, FINGER TAPPING, AND COGNITIVE TEMPO DEFINE A 2ND-ORDER-FACTOR OF TEMPORAL INFORMATION-PROCESSING

Adolescents with academic and social problems are often characterized as impulsive, having poor verbal skills, and having poor motor coordin ation. Language and skilled movements have long been hypothesized to s hare a common neural basis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that verbal skills, fine motor tasks that require a continu ous sequential response, and cognitive tempo (impulsiveness, time judg ment) would interrelate to define a higher-order dimension of ''tempor al information processing.'' Subjects were 155 males of high school ag e. The results confirmed the basic hypothesis. (C) 1996 Academic Press , Inc.