White and Indian adult males, speaking whatever words came to mind in their native languages (English and Cree, respectively), attempted to express vocally the emotions of happiness, sadness, love, and anger. After these simulations of emotional state were recorded, the speech samples were rendered unintelligible by means of an electronic filter (which removed verbal meaning while leaving intact the tonal aspects of speech). The filtered vocal expressions from the white and Indian speakers were then played to other groups of white and Indian adult males (receivers). When both heard the samples from the white speakers, the white receivers were able to identify the emotional content of tone of voice more accurately than the Indian receivers. On the other hand, Indian receivers performed more accurately than whites when judging the samples from Indian speakers. The significant interaction suggested that language and culture are crucial factors in the transmission of emotion-even on the nonverbal vocal level.

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The study at hand was undertaken to assess and compare the respective abilities of Canadian and Mexican subjects to identify emotion in speech. Canadian and Mexican female teachers, speaking whatever words they wished in their own languages, attempted to simulate four emotional states (i.e., happiness, sadness, love, and anger). After the initial recording, these samples were passed through an electronic filter which removed the semantic content while leaving intact the tonal qualities of the speech. The filtered vocal expressions were played to Canadian and Mexican subjects 5, 9, 13, 17, 25, 45, and 65 years of age. From 5 through 25, there was a progressive increase with age in ability to identify the emotion expressed. Ability did level off, however, and eventually even decreased (such that the 65 year‐olds performed less accurately than the other adult groups). Overall, the Mexican subjects were significantly more sensitive to emotion in speech than their Canadian counterparts. As well, both Canadian and Mexican subjects judged speech samples from Mexican speakers more accurately than those from Canadian speakers.

Of the 19 Canadian Aboriginal grade 3 and 4 children taken through the Coolabah Dynamic Assessment (test-intervention-retest) process in this pilot study, eight made pronounced gains from pre-test to posttest. Among this group of "invisible underachievers," three showed exceptional potential by achieving post-test raw scores that suggest high academic potential. In the context of this study, the term "invisible underachiever" refers to individuals who underperform both in the classroom and on commonly used evidence of potential for higher achievement. Profiles of these three youngsters illustrate the value of dynamic assessment in identifying talent in underachieving students, including those from disadvantaged and minority group backgrounds.

This article describes several initiatives in which Creative Problem Solving, in combination with career exploration and mentoring, has been used successfully to identify and develop the talents of “at-risk” populations. During the past decade, the Lost Prizes project helped turn around the lives of talented but troubled high-school dropouts, Northern Lights encouraged productivity in disenfranchised Aboriginal teens, and Second Chance reduced recidivism among Native Canadian inmates. Currently, various mentoring programs are providing support to vulnerable inner-city young people at risk for alienation, school failure, and gang involvement.