Raven's Progressive Matrices Test Research Articles

Group differences in the heritability of items and test scores

It is important to understand potential sources of group differences in the heritability of intelligence test scores. On the basis of a basic item response model we argue that heritabilities which are based on dichotomous item scores normally do not generalize from one sample to the next. If groups differ in mean ability, the functioning of items at different ability levels may result in group differences in the heritability of items, even when these items function equivalently across groups and the heritability of the underlying ability is equal across groups. We illustrate this graphically, by computer simulation, and by focusing on several problems associated with a recent study by Rushton et al. who argued that the heritability estimates of items of Raven's Progressive Matrices test in North-American twin samples generalized to other population groups, and hence that the population group differences on this test of general mental ability (or intelligence) had a substantial genetic component. Our results show that item heritabilities are strongly dependent on the group on which the heritabilities were based. Rushton et al.'s results were artefactual and do not speak to the nature of population group differences in intelligence test performance.

Desempenho escolar da criança vitimizada encaminhada ao fórum judicial

O objetivo do estudo foi caracterizar o desempenho escolar da criança vítima de violência doméstica atendida no Fórum Judicial. Participaram do estudo 20 crianças vitimizadas comparadas com seus pares da mesma sala de aula, mesmo sexo e mesma faixa etária, mas sem histórico de violência doméstica, suas respectivas mães e professoras. As crianças responderam ao Teste de Desempenho Escolar, Inventário de Estilos Parentais e ao Teste de Raven (Escala Especial) e apresentaram o caderno escolar. As mães responderam a uma entrevista e a Escala de Táticas de Conflitos Revisada (CTS-2). As professoras apresentaram sua opinião sobre o desempenho acadêmico dos participantes. Os dados obtidos mostraram que a criança vitimizada tem desempenho escolar inferior ao grupo controle. Os resultados da CTS-2 indicaram que a maioria das crianças vitimizadas estava exposta à violência conjugal. O estudo mostrou que, além da violência doméstica direta e indireta, tais crianças estavam expostas a outros fatores de risco, tais como, pobreza, baixa escolaridade materna e uso de álcool e/ou droga por familiares.

Requiem for nutrition as the cause of IQ gains: Raven's gains in Britain 1938–2008

The hypothesis that enhanced nutrition is mainly responsible for massive IQ gains over time borrows plausibility from the height gains of the 20th century. However, evidence shows that the two trends are largely independent. A detailed analysis of IQ trends on the Raven's Progressive Matrices tests in Britain dramatizes the poverty of the nutrition hypothesis. A multiple factor hypothesis that operates on three levels is offered as an alternative instrument of causal explanation. The Raven's data show that over the 65 years from circa 1942 to the present, taking ages 5–15 together, British school children have gained 14 IQ points for a rate of 0.216 points per year. However, since 1979, gains have declined with age and between the ages of 12–13 and 14–15, small gains turn into small losses. This is confirmed by Piagetian data and poses the possibility that the cognitive demands of teen-age subculture have been stagnant over perhaps the last 30 years.

Impact of nutritional status at the onset of elementary school on academic aptitude test achievement at the end of high school in a multicausal approach

Like in many other countries, few investigations have been carried out in Chile to measure the long-term effects of nutritional status at an early age on scholastic achievement in a multicausal approach. The objectives of the present study were to describe the impact of nutritional, intellectual, family, educational and socio-economic variables at the onset of elementary school in 1987 that may affect achievement on the academic aptitude test (AAT) taken in 1998 at the end of high school, and to quantify the impact of these independent variables on the AAT. The present study comprises two cross-sectional stages: in 1987, a representative sample of 813 elementary school first-grader Chilean children from the Metropolitan Region was randomly chosen; in 1998, 12 years later, 632 school-age children were located and only 351 of them graduated from high school and, from these, 260 students took the AAT. In 1987 nutritional status was assessed through anthropometric parameters, intellectual ability by the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, scholastic achievement through Spanish language and mathematics tests, and socio-economic status using Graffar's modified scale; family variables were also recorded. Maternal schooling, scholastic achievement, intellectual ability and head circumference-for-age z-score (anthropometric indicator of both nutritional background and brain development) all in 1987 were the independent variables with the greatest explanatory power for AAT variance in 1998 (r2 0.402). These results provide a foundation to identify the risk factors at an early age that affect AAT scores and should be useful to improve nutritional and educational policies.

Nutritional Supplementation in Early Childhood, Schooling, and Intellectual Functioning in Adulthood

To estimate the association of improved nutrition in early life with adult intellectual functioning, controlling for years of schooling. Prospective cohort study. Four villages in Guatemala, as well as locations within Guatemala to which cohort members migrated. Individuals who had participated as children in a nutrition supplementation intervention trial from March 1, 1969, through February 28, 1977 (N = 2392). From May 1, 2002, through April 30, 2004, adequate information for analysis was obtained from 1448 of 2118 individuals (68.4%) not known to have died. Individuals exposed to atole (a protein-rich enhanced nutrition supplement) at birth through age 24 months were compared with those exposed to the supplement at other ages or to fresco, a sugar-sweetened beverage. We measured years of schooling by interview. Scores on the Serie Interamericana (InterAmerican Series) tests of reading comprehension and the Raven Progressive Matrices, obtained from May 1, 2002, through April 30, 2004. In models controlling for years of schooling and other predictors of intellectual functioning, exposure to atole at birth to age 24 months was associated with an increase of 3.46 points (95% confidence interval, -1.26 to 8.18) and 1.74 points (95% confidence interval, 0.53-2.95) on the InterAmerican Series and Raven Progressive Matrices tests, respectively. There was no statistical interaction between exposure to atole at birth to age 24 months and years of schooling on either outcome (P = .24 and P = .60, respectively). Improved early-life nutrition is associated with increased intellectual functioning in adulthood after taking into account the effect of schooling.

The quest for item types based on information processing: An analysis of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, with a consideration of gender differences

Various taxonomies of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) items have been proposed in the literature to account for performance on the test. In the present article, three such taxonomies based on information processing, namely Carpenter, Just and Shell's [Carpenter, P.A., Just, M.A., & Shell, P., (1990). What one intelligence test measures: A theoretical account of the processing in the Raven Progressive Matrices test. Psychological Review, 97, 404–431.] as completed by Mackintosh and Bennett [Mackintosh, N.J., & Bennett, E.S., (2005). What do Raven's Matrices measure? An analysis in terms of sex differences. Intelligence, 33, 663–674.], DeShon, Chan and Weissbein's [DeShon, R.P., Chan, D., & Weissbein, D.A., (1995). Verbal overshadowing effects on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices: Evidence for multidimensional performance determinants. Intelligence, 21, 135–155.], and Dillon, Pohlmann and Lohman's [Dillon, R.F., Pohlmann, J.T., & Lohman, D.F., (1981). A factor analysis of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices freed of difficulty factors. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41, 1295–1302.], were examined to assess the extent to which they fit APM data from two large samples of university students. Gender differences hypotheses based on the examined APM item taxonomies were also tested. Results indicate that none of the tested models achieved a good fit, and that item difficulty seemed to be the main determinant of the APM's dimensionality. Gender differences analyses also provided inconsistent support for the information-processing based taxonomies. Results are discussed in terms of potential statistical artifacts and of the weak reliability of the proposed item classifications.

Verbalized Inner Speech and the Expressiveness of Self-Consciousness

The relevance of inner speech for psychological life has been recognized in the literature, and several scales and questionnaires have provided evidence. However, evidence coming from direct observation of the phenomena is still rare. The aim of this study was to specify modes of verbalized inner speech as expression of self-consciousness (reflexivity or internal conversation). Eighteen adults (between 19 and 34 years old) were instructed to express aloud their thinking during a task with the Brazilian version of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Participants' thinking-aloud verbalizations were submitted to a qualitative analysis based on three reflexive steps of semiotic-phenomenology: description, reduction, and interpretation. Description revealed a structure of verbalized inner speech organized on the basis of three main typifications: visual description, logical reasoning, and dialogue. Reduction recognized dialogical relations as an essential feature underlying verbalized inner speech, characterized by two different aspects of information and communication. Interpretation indicated that an accurate account of the conscious expression of dialogical relations requires understanding the communicative process as a logical relationship with an emphasis on its pragmatic function. The conscious experience of reflexivity is disclosed as both temporal (a marked presence) and spatial (marked as an absence).

Some factors underlying mathematical performance: The role of visuospatial working memory and non-verbal intelligence

Passive and active visuospatial working memory (VSWM) were investigated in relation to maths performance. The mental rotation task was employed as a measure of active VSWM whereas passive VSWM was investigated using a modified Corsi Blocks task and a matrix pattern task. The Raven Progressive Matrices Test measured fluid intelligence. A total of 128 students, aged 15–16, served as participants. Fluid intelligence and passive VSWM accounted for variance in overall maths performance. Active VSWM exhibited significant correlations with maths measures, but in a series of regression analyses most of its effect was observed to be mediated by fluid intelligence. Different subscores of mathematical skills (geometry, word problems, and mental arithmetic) were accounted for by fluid intelligence and different measures of VSWM. The educational implications of the results are discussed.

A twin-family study of general IQ

In this paper we assess the presence of assortative mating, gene–environment interaction and the heritability of intelligence in childhood using a twin family design with twins, their siblings and parents from 112 families. We evaluate two competing hypotheses about the cause of assortative mating in intelligence: social homogamy and phenotypic assortment, and their implications for the heritability estimate of intelligence. The Raven Progressive Matrices test was used to assess general intelligence (IQ) and a persons IQ was estimated using a Rasch model. There was a substantial correlation between spouses for IQ ( r = .33) and resemblance in identical twins was higher than in first-degree relatives (parents and offspring, fraternal twins and siblings). A model assuming phenotypic assortment fitted the data better than a model assuming social homogamy. The main influence on IQ variation was genetic. Controlled for scale unreliability, additive genetic effects accounted for 67% of the population variance. There was no evidence for cultural transmission between generations. The results suggested that an additional 9% of observed IQ test variation was due to gene–environment interaction, with environment being more important in children with a genetic predisposition for low intelligence.

Prediction of general mental ability based on neural oscillation measures of sleep

The usual assessment of general mental ability (or intelligence) is based on performance attained in reasoning and problem-solving tasks. Differences in general mental ability have been associated with event-related neural activity patterns of the wakeful working brain or physical, chemical and electrical brain features measured during wakeful resting conditions. Recent evidences suggest that specific sleep electroencephalogram oscillations are related to wakeful cognitive performances. Our aim is to reveal the relationship between non-rapid eye movement sleep-specific oscillations (the slow oscillation, delta activity, slow and fast sleep spindle density, the grouping of slow and fast sleep spindles) and general mental ability assessed by the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (RPMT). The grouping of fast sleep spindles by the cortical slow oscillation in the left frontopolar derivation (Fp1) as well as the density of fast sleep spindles over the right frontal area (Fp2, F4), correlated positively with general mental ability. Data from those selected electrodes that showed the high correlations with general mental ability explained almost 70% of interindividual variance in RPMT scores. Results suggest that individual differences in general mental ability are reflected in fast sleep spindle-related oscillatory activity measured over the frontal cortex.

Early Childhood Development Interventions and Cognitive Development of Young Children in Rural Vietnam

Little is known about the long-term benefits of interventions that aim to promote early childhood development programs. The goal of this research was to determine whether an early childhood development intervention added to a nutrition intervention during preschool ages had lasting effects on the cognitive development of school-age children in communes of Thanh Hoa province in rural Vietnam. The study focused on a total of 313 children aged 6.5-8.5 y (grades 1 and 2 in primary school) in 2 communes that were exposed to nutrition intervention or nutrition and early childhood development (ECD) intervention from 1999 to 2003. Measurements of height and cognitive test scores (Raven's Progressive Matrices Test) were collected from the children; household characteristics were determined by interviews with mothers. Longitudinal analysis was performed by integrating the data with that collected from the same children in past surveys. Significant effects of the ECD intervention compared with the nutrition intervention were detected. The beneficial effect of ECD intervention on the cognitive test scores was large for the most nutritionally challenged children whose height-for-age Z-scores declined or remained in the stunted range. The findings help provide useful insights into the development of an effective integrated model of ECD and nutrition intervention for children in rural Vietnam.

Schooling, Educational Achievement, and Cognitive Functioning among Young Guatemalan Adults

Quantity and quality of schooling obtained and the resulting skills and knowledge acquired are important components of human capital. We describe the distribution of selected measures of schooling, educational achievement, and cognitive functioning among individuals who participated as children in a nutrition supplementation trial in Guatemala and were followed up in 2002-04. Among 1,469 respondents (response rate 80%), who were 26-41 years of age in 2003, more than 90% of men and women had attended at least some school; more than half of men and more than one-third of women had completed sixth grade. Schooling attainment of both men and women has increased across birth cohorts but the schooling gap between men and women has increased. Parental socioeconomic status, as measured in 1975, is a strong predictor of schooling attainment. Basic literacy is high among those studied, with more than 80% able to read simple sentences. The gap in educational achievement favoring men narrowed across birth cohorts due to increases among younger women. The greater performance among men on the Raven's Progressive Matrices test persisted despite increased scores in the younger birth cohorts for both men and women. Migrants to Guatemala City have completed more years of school and scored higher on the tests of educational achievement and cognitive functioning than have cohort members who have remained in the study villages.

What do Raven's Matrices measure? An analysis in terms of sex differences

Although it is sometimes claimed that Raven's Matrices provide an almost pure measure of g, there is evidence that the easier items in the Standard Progressive Matrices and in Set I of the Advanced Matrices measure a perceptual or Gestalt factor distinct from the more analytic items in the rest of the tests. There is also, however, both factor analytic and experimental evidence that these analytic items fall into two partially separate groups, distinguishable by the type of rule needed for their solution in the analysis proposed by Carpenter, Just, and Schell (1990) [Carpenter, P. A., Just, M. A., Schell, P. (1990). What one intelligence test measures: A theoretical account of the processing in the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test. Psychological Review, 97, 404–431]. Re-analysis of published data suggests a new source of evidence for this further distinction: males do better than females on items requiring an addition/subtraction or distribution of two rule, but there is no sex difference on items requiring pairwise progression or distribution of three rules. A specially designed experiment confirmed this pattern of results.

Maternal Iron Deficiency Anemia Affects Postpartum Emotions and Cognition

The aim of this study was to determine whether iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in mothers alters their maternal cognitive and behavioral performance, the mother-infant interaction, and the infant's development. This article focuses on the relation between IDA and cognition as well as behavioral affect in the young mothers. This prospective, randomized, controlled, intervention trial was conducted in South Africa among 3 groups of mothers: nonanemic controls and anemic mothers receiving either placebo (10 microg folate and 25 mg vitamin C) or daily iron (125 mg FeS0(4), 10 microg folate, 25 mg vitamin C). Mothers of full-term normal birth weight babies were followed from 10 wk to 9 mo postpartum (n = 81). Maternal hematologic and iron status, socioeconomic, cognitive, and emotional status, mother-infant interaction, and the development of the infants were assessed at 10 wk and 9 mo postpartum. Behavioral and cognitive variables at baseline did not differ between iron-deficient anemic mothers and nonanemic mothers. However, iron treatment resulted in a 25% improvement (P < 0.05) in previously iron-deficient mothers' depression and stress scales as well as in the Raven's Progressive Matrices test. Anemic mothers administered placebo did not improve in behavioral measures. Multivariate analysis showed a strong association between iron status variables (hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, and transferrin saturation) and cognitive variables (Digit Symbol) as well as behavioral variables (anxiety, stress, depression). This study demonstrates that there is a strong relation between iron status and depression, stress, and cognitive functioning in poor African mothers during the postpartum period. There are likely ramifications of this poorer "functioning" on mother-child interactions and infant development, but the constraints around this relation will have to be defined in larger studies.

The relationships between cognitive ability and dynamic decision making

This study investigated the relationships between cognitive ability (as assessed by the Raven Progressive Matrices Test [RPM] and the Visual-Span Test [VSPAN]) and individuals' performance in three dynamic decision making (DDM) tasks (i.e., regular Water Purification Plant [WPP], Team WPP, and Firechief). Participants interacted repeatedly with one of the three microworlds. Our results indicate a positive association between VSPAN and RPM scores and between each of those measures and performance in the three dynamic tasks. Practice had no effect on the correlation between RPM score and performance in any of the microworlds, but it led to an increased correlation between VSPAN score and performance in Team WPP. The pattern of associations between performance in microworlds and assessments of cognitive ability was consistent with the task requirements of the microworlds. These findings provide insight into the cognitive demands of dynamic decision making and the dynamics of the relationships between cognitive ability and performance with task practice.

Premorbid cognitive and behavioral functioning in military recruits experiencing the first episode of psychosis.

To characterize the premorbid cognitive and behavioral abilities in apparently healthy adolescents who at a later time will be diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder or schizophrenia. Clarifying the pathological relationship between subtle intellectual and behavioral abnormalities and disease could provide markers for the early prediction of future psychosis. Premorbid data on young male patients admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest, Romania, between 1996 and 2002 and diagnosed with a first episode of psychosis or schizophreniform disorder were collected. The premorbid data consisted in the test scores of intellectual functioning and personality traits were collected by the Romanian Draft Board in order to assesses their aptitude to serve in the military. Premorbid cognitive and behavioral scores of male patients (cases=157) were compared with the scores of healthy male individuals (non-cases=169) matched for age, education, and geographic area of residence. The tests were administered when subjects were 18 years of age (initial screening) and the entire assessment was completed and concluded when subjects reached 20 years of age (actual conscription). As a group, apparently healthy males later admitted for a first episode of psychosis or schizophreniform disorder, obtained lower (worse) scores on the Raven Progressive Matrices test and on relevant personality traits in comparison to controls. The results add to the accumulating body of evidence suggesting that aspects of schizophrenia manifest years before the illness is formally diagnosed. Despite these results, more studies are needed to improve the diagnosing specificity and predictive value of the premorbid cognitive and behavioral manifestations, before they can be used as markers in models of primary or secondary prevention.

Equivalence of standard and computerized versions of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test

Abstract The present study examined the equivalence of the computer administered version of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) with the standard paper-and-pencil administered version of the RSPM. In addition, the effects of state and trait anxiety as well as computer anxiety were investigated. Fifty undergraduate volunteers were administered the RSPM twice under one of four conditions: computer–computer, standard–standard, computer–standard, or standard–computer. No significant differences were found between mean scores and standard deviations across administrations or formats. Rank-order correlations revealed similar ranking across formats. Tentative support for the equivalence of the computerized version of the RSPM was found. Analyses revealed no significant differences in anxiety across formats and no significant correlations between anxiety and RSPM performance. Explanations and implications for further research are discussed.

The induction of solution rules in Raven's Progressive Matrices Test

In this paper, we study the rule induction process in a popular intelligence test, Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test (RPM; Raven, 1962). Carpenter, Just, and Shell (1990) have shown that only a few rule types are necessary to describe all items of the test. An independent question that has not been investigated is whether participants profit from this, that is, do they learn to apply these rules more fluently throughout the test? We show that this is the case and look in detail at different aspects of this learning process. The relevance of our findings is discussed for a process theory on solving RPM items.

The Effect of Knowledge About the L1 on Foreign Language Skills and Grammar

Cummins´s (1978, 1979) Developmental Interdependence hypothesis states that a learner's competence in a second language is partly dependent on the level of competence already achieved in the first language. Likewise, this author's Common Underlying Proficiency model of bilingualism (Cummins, 1980) suggests that a bilingual or multilingual person's thoughts that accompany reading, writing, talking and listening stem from a common underlying proficiency or central operating system. Therefore it can be concluded that there is one integrated source of thought, irrespective of the language in which the bilingual/multilingual person is functioning. However, it has been observed (Cummins, 2000) that it takes considerably longer to attain a higher level of competence in academic language tasks than in everyday conversational situations. With these theories in mind, this paper examines the effect of knowledge about language on the learning of foreign language skills and grammar. The data were collected through a questionnaire, a metalinguistic awareness test, Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, a linguistic creativity test, and English tests completed by 252 students. It was hypothesised that: (1) student's knowledge about language would have a significant effect on the writing, reading and grammar English tests, and (2) the effect of this knowledge will lessen as regards the listening and speaking tests.

The Raven's Progressive Matrices: Change and Stability over Culture and Time

Data relating to the stability and variation in the norms for the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test (a well-validated measure of basic cognitive functioning) for different cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups on a worldwide and within-country basis are first summarized. Subsequent sections deal with variation over time. A possible explanation for the variation in norms over time and between ethnic groups within countries is offered.