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The factorial structure of two tests of cognitive style (the Children's Embedded Figures Test and the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20) and one test of cognitive ability (Raven Progressive Matrices) was examined in this study with a sample of 337 boys and 287 girls between ages 6 and 11 years. Factor I related to Impulsivity and Factor II related to cognitive ability and disembedding skills, which were stable across age groups and sex and accounted for 84.6% of variance.

To compare the differential cognitive and stylistic profiles of Spanish-speaking girls and boys and the relation between these profiles with subjects' reading scores 50 girls and 50 boys, 8 years old, were assessed on a reading test, the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and the Intellectual Test (Escala Diferencial del Rendimiento Intelectual). Analysis showed differential cognitive profiles for the two sexes. While girls used single, essentially verbal strategies for the reading activity, boys with high reading scores used verbal and perceptual strategies. In general, for girls verbal intelligence scores had correlated the highest with reading scores and lowest with independence on the Children's Embedded Figures Test. For boys the two tests contribute to the explained variance of reading scores. Curiously for scores in reading letters, reading strategies of the two groups seemed inverted.

The Children's Embedded Figures Test, the Rod and Frame Test to measure the field dependence-independence cognitive style, Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Tests to measure cognitive ability, and two cancellation tasks (Zazzo task and Bourdon task) to assess sustained attention were administered to 179 boys and 110 girls whose average age was 9.0 yr. Correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence and cognitive ability were moderated. Average correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence, cognitive ability, and measures of sustained attention was .23 for the Zazzo task and quite weak (.06) for the Bourdon task.

Internal consistency of scores on the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20 and patterns of latencies and errors were estimated for 337 boys and 287 girls between the ages of 6 and 11 years, in the first five grades of primary school. The Matching Familiar Figures Test-20 presented moderate coefficients of internal consistency (.77) for errors and high coefficients (.94) for latencies. The correlation between latencies and errors was moderate and significant (-.50).

This study analyzes the Children's Embedded Figures Test by examining its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, the order of difficulty of the items, and the change of scores with age. Among the sample 337 boys and 287 girls who were between the ages of 6 and 11 years and in the first five grades of primary school scores increased significantly. The test presented moderate internal consistency (.86), and the test-retest reliability after one year was .63. The order of difficulty of the items did not coincide with the order proposed by the test's authors and varied from grade to grade, i.e., in the Tent series Item 4 and in the House series Item 5 were among the most difficult.