IntelligencePub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101962
Friederike Busse , Luc Zimny , Ulrich Schroeders , Oliver Wilhelm
{"title":"Cloze test performance and cognitive abilities: A comprehensive meta-analysis","authors":"Friederike Busse , Luc Zimny , Ulrich Schroeders , Oliver Wilhelm","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101962","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101962","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cloze tests have a long history and have been used to measure various abilities, including intelligence, reading comprehension, and language proficiency. To locate cloze tests within a nomological network of cognitive abilities, we conducted a multilevel random effects meta-analysis covering 110 years of research. Studies were eligible if they provided a measure of association between a cognitive fill-in-the-blank test and any cognitive ability test. We synthesized manifest correlations from 89 studies (<em>N</em> = 37,912, <em>k</em> = 634) and found an average correlation of <em>r</em> = .54 (95% CI [.49, .59], <em>k</em> = 485) with crystallized intelligence, <em>r</em> = .48 (95% CI [.42, .54], <em>k</em> = 69) with fluid intelligence, and <em>r</em> =.61 (95% CI [.46, .77], <em>k</em> = 32) with general intelligence. While today's application of the typical cloze is to measure reading comprehension, our results revealed a similarly strong association with a broad range of crystallized abilities. Of the key moderators we investigated—text base, administration mode, deletion pattern, and response type—only the response type showed a significant effect. Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of our findings. We conclude by revisiting the origin of the cloze test and highlighting the need for systematic studies on how different cloze test designs affect construct validity. Whereas the meta-analytic database predominantly originates from language research, where cloze tests are entrenched as markers of language proficiency, we propose reframing cloze tests as a versatile intelligence test format—just like multiple-choice tests constitute a testing method—that can be tailored to assess various specific cognitive abilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101962"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101965
Soo Youn Kim , Jordyn Esprit , Ann Levine , Kevin G. Stephenson
{"title":"The effect of processing speed on academic fluency in children with neurodevelopmental disorders","authors":"Soo Youn Kim , Jordyn Esprit , Ann Levine , Kevin G. Stephenson","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101965","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101965","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Poor processing speed (PS) is frequently observed in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, mixed findings exist on the predictive validity of such processing speed impairment and the role of working memory (WM). We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients evaluated at a developmental assessment clinic between March 2018 and December 2022. Patients with available data on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) and the Woodcock-Johnson, Fourth Edition, Tests of Achievement (WJ IV ACH) were included (<em>n</em> = 77, 69 % male; <em>M</em><sub><em>age</em></sub> = 10.6, <em>SD</em><sub><em>age</em></sub> = 2.5; FSIQ range = 47–129). We performed a mediation analysis with academic fluency (AF) as the dependent variable, PS as the predictor, WM as the mediator, and academic skills and general intelligence as covariates. Both the direct and indirect effects of PS were significant prior to adding covariates. However, only the direct effect of PS was robust, independent of the effects of academic skills and general intelligence. The indirect effect of PS through WM was insignificant after accounting for the general academic skills and intelligence. Therefore, PS explains a unique variance in AF. This finding suggests that PS may be an exception to the criticism of cognitive profile analysis. Interpreting the PS score as a relative strength or weakness within a cognitive profile may uniquely predict their timed academic performance in youth with neurodevelopmental disorders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101965"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101963
Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Roman Konarski, Paweł A. Atroszko
{"title":"Lack of measurement invariance in mental health assessment across intelligence levels: Investigation into nonlinearity reveals a broader issue","authors":"Stanisław K. Czerwiński, Roman Konarski, Paweł A. Atroszko","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101963","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101963","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The notion of individuals with extremely high intelligence experiencing specific psychological difficulties has been brought up many times by researchers, with no consensus being reached on this matter. Modeling the relationship between intelligence and mental health nonlinearly allows for revealing the possibility for extremely intelligent individuals to experience specific difficulties affecting their mental health while still having better mental health on average. Moreover, with gender roles ingrained in the social world, men and women are likely to have different experiences with how their social environments react to their high intelligence. This study used data from two cohort studies: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79; <em>n</em> = 8474) and 1997 (NLSY97; <em>n</em> = 6472). Although, the results of polynomial and piecewise regression suggested that the relationship of intelligence with depression and distress is nonlinear, the results of local structural equation models showed the lack of measurement invariance of mental health measures across intelligence values for both men and women. The factor loadings for the measures decreased, as the intelligence values increased. As such, values of mental health are not comparable across different levels of intelligence. If this effect is also present on a larger number of psychometric instruments, the implications on psychological research could be substantial. The lack of measurement invariance of psychometric instruments across intelligence can compromise the results of studies, not only those testing for nonlinear relationships of intelligence, but also those testing for linear ones.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101963"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145154210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101961
Gilles E. Gignac , Marcin Zajenkowski
{"title":"Humans peak in midlife: A combined cognitive and personality trait perspective","authors":"Gilles E. Gignac , Marcin Zajenkowski","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101961","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101961","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fluid intelligence, which peaks near age 20 and declines materially across adulthood, is often regarded as the most critical cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Yet, human achievement in domains such as career success tends to peak much later, typically between the ages of 55 and 60. This discrepancy may reflect the fact that, while fluid intelligence may decline with age, other dimensions improve (e.g., crystallized intelligence, emotional intelligence). To examine this possibility, we analyzed age-related trends across nine constructs associated with life success: cognitive abilities, personality traits, emotional intelligence, financial literacy, moral reasoning, resistance to sunk cost bias, cognitive flexibility, cognitive empathy, and need for cognition. We extracted age-related findings from published studies for each dimension and standardized all scores to T-scores for comparability. We then constructed a Cognitive-Personality Functioning Index (CPFI) and compared two weighting approaches: a Conventional model, emphasizing intelligence and core personality traits, and a Comprehensive model, integrating a broader array of dimensions. Both models revealed a peak in overall functioning during late midlife (ages 55 to 60) but diverged at the younger and older ends of adulthood: under Conventional weighting, older adults scored well below young adults, whereas under Comprehensive weighting, the two groups were roughly equivalent. These findings suggest that functional capacity, defined in terms of key differential psychological traits, may peak in late midlife, closely aligning with the typical peak in career achievement. Also, individuals best suited for high-stakes decision-making roles are unlikely to be younger than 40 or older than 65.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101961"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145109391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101952
Maria Sifaki , Eirini Flouri
{"title":"Writing hand preference and cognitive function across the childhood years: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study","authors":"Maria Sifaki , Eirini Flouri","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101952","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101952","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Some evidence suggests that non-right-handed children have somewhat lower cognitive abilities than their right-handed counterparts, but differences are weak and inconsistent. Further research is needed to understand whether cognitive skill differences between right-handed and non-right-handed children in the general population exist, and if so when they emerge, how they develop across time, and how they may vary for different skills. This study, using longitudinal data from 11,371 children (50.07 % girls) of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), explored the associations between writing hand preference and a range of verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills (10 cognitive skill scores overall) at ages 3, 5, 7, and 11 years. Writing hand preference (right-hand/non-right-hand) was reported by children at age 14 (a retrospective measure). We imputed missing data and ran regression modelling, while adjusting for covariates. Writing hand preference was associated with pattern construction at ages 5 and 7 and with verbal reasoning and spatial working memory at age 11, with right-handers performing better. Effect sizes were very small. Sensitivity analyses excluding the small number of children reporting using either hand replicated these results. Our findings suggest that non-right-handed children show some disadvantage, especially in spatial skills, across the primary school years. Supporting their spatial skills could be of benefit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101952"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144933057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101948
Corentin Gonthier , Emma Tourreix , Maud Besançon , Jacques Grégoire , Jacques-Henri Guignard
{"title":"Two psychometric profiles of gifted children in referred samples: The need to distinguish between homogeneous and crystallized profiles","authors":"Corentin Gonthier , Emma Tourreix , Maud Besançon , Jacques Grégoire , Jacques-Henri Guignard","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101948","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101948","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Detecting giftedness is a high-stake issue in psychological assessment. Often defined as intellectual performance in the top 2.5 %, giftedness concerns a substantial share of the general population; giftedness identification is also one of the most frequent motivations for intelligence testing in children. Despite the importance of this topic, there has rarely been consistent research in the methods used to classify an individual as gifted in the context of psychological assessment. Psychometric profiles associated with giftedness, in particular, have not been systematically explored, despite the possibility that there are subtypes of giftedness with different implications for research and practice. We collected the assessment results of a sample of 739 children identified as gifted after completing Wechsler's Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV or WISC-V), in one of five different testing locations in France or Belgium. Profile analyses revealed the existence of two distinct psychometric profiles, each comprising roughly half the sample. One group of children had consistently high performance on all indices; whereas the other group had very high performance specifically on verbal comprehension subtests tapping into crystallized intelligence, but mild performance everywhere else. These results clearly support the idea that there are two roads to giftedness: some children reach the cutoff of giftedness based on high cognitive abilities overall, whereas others are particularly adept at leveraging a capital of acquired knowledge in verbal tasks. These two profiles have different implications for the real-life achievement of gifted individuals, leading to major consequences for both research and clinical practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101948"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144890808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101951
Ayhan Koçoğlu , Sedat Kanadlı
{"title":"Critical thinking disposition as a mediator in creativity and problem-solving: A MASEM study","authors":"Ayhan Koçoğlu , Sedat Kanadlı","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101951","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101951","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Critical thinking disposition (CTD) is a higher-order thinking skill that plays a crucial role due to its direct and indirect effects on problem-solving (PS) and creative thinking (CT) skills. Studies in the field of education frequently emphasize critical thinking as an important component of 21st-century skills. Accordingly, this study examined the mediating role of critical thinking disposition between problem-solving and creative thinking skills. Utilizing the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) method, this study synthesized 74 correlation values from 64 studies. These correlations examined the relationships between critical thinking disposition (CTD) and problem-solving skills (PSS) (k = 53), CTD and creative thinking skills (CTS) (k = 15), and PSS and CTS (k = 6). Correlation coefficients were considered to test the mediating role of CTD in the relationship between creative thinking and problem-solving. Data collected from a total population of 17,273 individuals were included in the analysis. The research results show that CTD is related to both PSS and CTS. Furthermore, it was determined that CTD acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between PSS and CTS. According to this result, creative thinking affects problem-solving both directly and indirectly through critical thinking disposition, with these pathways collectively explaining 22 % of the variance in problem-solving. The study findings also indicated that the scales used to measure CTD might yield different results concerning the relationships with PSS and CTS. Conversely, it was determined that the country where the studies were conducted, participant age, and gender were not significant moderators. These findings highlight the interconnectedness of these higher-order thinking skills and suggest that interventions targeting CTD could enhance both creative and problem-solving abilities, while also underscoring the need for careful consideration of measurement instruments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 101951"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144889822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101947
Patrick Mussel , Philipp Schäpers , Niklas Schulte , Johannes Hewig , Stefan Krumm
{"title":"The Short And Free Reasoning Ability assessmeNt (SAFRAN): Multidimensional, publicly available and only 15 minutes testing time","authors":"Patrick Mussel , Philipp Schäpers , Niklas Schulte , Johannes Hewig , Stefan Krumm","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101947","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101947","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The assessment of cognitive abilities is one of the cornerstones of psychological diagnostics. However, most assessments are expensive in terms of both testing time and money and, thus, not conducted as often as they could be, relating to both research as well as applied settings. Here, we report about the development of a new reasoning ability test, the Short And Free Reasoning Ability assessmeNt (SAFRAN). As its name suggests, it assesses reasoning ability in a short time and is free to use. Additionally, using a slightly modified testing procedure, the SAFRAN allows for the assessment of lower order, content-specific reasoning ability factors. We evaluate the SAFRAN across seven samples (total <em>N</em> = 920) with respect to correlations with demographic variables, reliability, internal and external construct-related validity as well as criterion-related validity. Among others, results show that both the reasoning factor as well as content-specific ability factors converge with corresponding indicators from traditional intelligence tests. Thus, the SAFRAN could be a useful instrument for the assessment of multidimensional reasoning ability in situations where resources in terms of time or money are limited.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101947"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144863745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101949
Charles Chiu Hung Yip , Xiangzi Ouyang , Xiao Zhang
{"title":"Measuring general cognitive ability in early elementary students: A shortened version of the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices","authors":"Charles Chiu Hung Yip , Xiangzi Ouyang , Xiao Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101949","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101949","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) is widely used to assess fluid intelligence in developmental and educational research. Several short forms of the 60-item SPM have been proposed to address its lengthy design. However, an SPM short form for early elementary children is lacking, which is important given their distinct developmental milestones. To bridge this gap, the current study developed a 15-item SPM short form for children aged 6–8 years. The short form displayed a strong correlation with the 60-item SPM (<em>r</em> = 0.85). Monte Carlo simulation, Item Response Theory, and other validation methods collectively supported the short form as a reliable alternative to the full form SPM. Significant positive correlations between the short form with working memory and academic achievement dimensions further supported the validity of the short form. The current study complemented <span><span>Langener, Kramer, van den Bos, and Huizenga (2022)</span></span> to offer a complete collection of SPM short forms for developmental populations, enabling researchers to efficiently measure intelligence in these samples. The current short form minimizes participant fatigue intelligence assessments and facilitates more informative research designs, contributing to enhanced progress across developmental and educational research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101949"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144830709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-08-06DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101950
Alaattin Arıkan
{"title":"Challenging assumptions: The complex interplay of gender, academic achievement, and teaching subject in pre-service teachers' anxiety","authors":"Alaattin Arıkan","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101950","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101950","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the complex interplay of gender, academic achievement, and teaching subject on pre-service middle school teachers' spatial anxiety, also exploring their perceptions of its underlying causes and potential effects on future teaching practices. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected from 93 pre-service teachers using the Spatial Anxiety Scale, followed by qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. Two-way ANCOVA results, with GPA as a covariate, revealed significant main effects of gender and teaching subject on various facets of spatial anxiety. Specifically, female pre-service teachers reported higher overall and navigation anxiety than males. Science pre-service teachers exhibited lower overall, mental manipulation, and imagery anxiety compared to their peers in social studies and mathematics. Notably, no significant interaction effects between gender and teaching subject were found for any type of spatial anxiety. Correlation analyses indicated a striking positive relationship between GPA and navigation anxiety, while no significant correlations were found between GPA and other facets of spatial anxiety. This challenges the assumption that spatial anxiety uniformly decreases with higher academic achievement. Qualitative findings provided rich contextual explanations for these quantitative results, highlighting perceived cultural, environmental, and personal factors (including academic prioritization and perfectionism) associated with spatial anxiety experiences. The study underscores the importance of addressing these multifaceted anxieties in teacher education, offering insights for developing targeted interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 101950"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144780016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}