Research Byte: #Cognitive #aging revisited: A cross-sectional analysis of the #WAIS-5 - #intelligence #developmental #cognition #schoolpsychologists #WAISV #schoolpsychology

Cognitive Aging Revisited: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of  the WAIS-5 

Emily L. Winter, Brittany A. Dale, Sachiko Maharjan, Cynthia R. Lando, Courtney M. Larsen,  Troy Courville and Alan S. Kaufman  

An open access article that can be read or downloaded at this link.

Abstract 

Historical cross-sectional approaches examining cognitive aging consistently reveal a pat-tern of steady decline on nonverbal problem-solving, speeded tasks, and maintenance on verbal tasks. However, as measures developed and broadened the factor structure to align with Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory, and age ranges were extended from 75 to 90 years, a more nuanced approach to cognitive aging emerged. The present study, using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (WAIS-5), examined the cognitive aging process through a cross-sectional approach. WAIS-5 normative sample data (aligned with the 2022 U.S. census) were obtained from the test publisher. The sample included adult participants aged 20–24 through 85–90 (n = 1660), which were mapped into 11 age groups. Using post-stratification weighting to control for educational attainment, cognitive decline was observed throughout aging; verbal skills were maintained longer than other abilities, while processing speed declined steadily and rapidly from young adulthood to old age. Working memory was vulnerable to the aging process but demonstrated slower patterns of decline than the other vulnerable abilities. Fluid reasoning and visual spatial skills (although aligning with separate CHC broad abilities theoretically) were strikingly similar in their pattern of decline across a person's lifespan. Results are highly consistent with the large body of cross-sectional research conducted during the previous generation by Salthouse and his colleagues, as well as other teams of researchers. 

Keywords: cognitive aging; WAIS-5; cross-sectional design; verbal abilities; nonverbal abilities 

FYI: A guide to the #WAISV ancillary index scores for #schoolpsychology and other #intelligence assessment professionals

Most assessment professionals have probably already received an email with this info.  The WAIS-V has many new ancillary index scores.  Click here for link to info.

Click on images to enlarge for easy reading

The new #WAIS-V and forthcoming #WJ V tests—time for a reminder: The Joint Test #Standards, the publisher and you.

With the recent publication of a new WAIS-V and the forthcoming publication (projected Q1 2025) of the WJ V (COI - I’m a coauthor of the WJ V), intelligence assessment professionals are excited.  With these new revised test batteries, it is time to (again) remind users of the critical importance of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014; aka the Joint [AERA, APA, NCME] Test Standards).  Click here for a FREE PDF copy to add to your “must read” list.  Yes…you can download and read for free…just in time for the holidays!!!!!!

It is often not understood that these standards, which are of critical importance to those who author and sell psychological and educational tests (i.e, publishers), also include important user standards…that is, assessment professionals who select, evaluate, administer and interpret such tests have certain standards they should ascribe to.

As stated in the Joint Test Standards, “validation is the joint responsibility of the test developer and the test user. The test developer is responsible for furnishing relevant evidence and a rationale in support of any test score interpretations for specified uses intended by the developer. The test user is ultimately responsible for evaluating the evidence in the particular setting in which the test is to be used. When a test user proposes an interpretation or use of test scores that differs from those supported by the test developer, the responsibility for providing validity evidence in support of that interpretation for the specified use is the responsibility of the user.   It should be noted that important contributions to the validity evidence may be made as other researchers report findings of investigations that are related to the meaning of test scores” (p.13; emphasis added).

The publication of a technical manual is the start..but not the end.  The publication of a tests technical manual provides the starting point or foundation (as per the Joint Test Standards) for an ongoing “never ending story” of additional validity evidence that accumulates post-publication through additional research studies.  A thorough and well written technical manual is a “must” at publication of a new test, adhering as close as reasonably possible to the relevant Joint Test Standards.

“It is commonly observed that the validation process never ends, as there is always additional information that can be gathered to more fully understand a test and the inferences that an be drawn from it” (p .21).

If the reader has access to the latest edition of Flanagan and McDonough’s Contemporary Intellectual Assessment (2018) book, the Montgomery, Torres, and Eiseman chapter on “Using the Joint Test Standards to Evaluate the Validity Evidence for Intelligence Tests”) is highly recommended as a concise summary of the ins-and-outs of the Joint Test Standards.

Psychological and educational assessment tools provide information that often result in crucial, and at times, life altering decisions for individuals, especial school age students.  All parties (authors, publisher, users) must take these Joint Test Standards seriously.  

Research Byte: Wait, Where’s the #FlynnEffect on the #WAIS-5?

 

Emily L. Winter, 

Sierra M. Trudel, 

Alan S. Kaufman

J. Intell. 2024, 12(11), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence12110118

Click on the link to down open access copy of the PDF article.

The recent release of the WAIS-5, a decade and a half after its predecessor, the WAIS-IV, raises immediate questions about the Flynn effect (FE). Does the traditional FE of points per decade in the U.S. for children and adults, identified for the Full Scale IQs of all Wechsler scales and for other global IQ scores as well, persist into the 2020s? The WAIS-5 Technical and Interpretive Manual provides two counterbalanced validity studies that address the Flynn effect directly—N = 186 adolescents and adults (16–90 years, mean age = 47.8) tested on the WAIS-IV and WAIS-5; and N = 98 16-year-olds tested on the WISC-V and WAIS-5. The FE is incorporated into the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disabilities by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), by DSM-5-TR, and in capital punishment cases. The unexpected result of the two counterbalanced studies was a reduction in the Flynn effect from the expected value of 3 IQ points to 1.2 points. These findings raise interesting questions regarding whether the three point adjustment to FSIQs should be continued for intellectual disability diagnosis and whether the federal courts should rethink its guidelines for capital punishment cases and other instances of high stakes decision-making. Limitations include a lack of generalization to children, the impact of the practice effects, and a small sample size.

Keywords: 

Flynn effect; IQ tests; cognitive assessment; Wechsler scales; WAIS-5; WAIS-IV; intelligence testing; capital punishment cases; intellectual disabilities