Domain-specificity of Flynn effects in the CHC-model: Stratum II test score changes in Germanophone samples (1996–2018) - ScienceDirect

 Domain-specificity of Flynn effects in the CHC-model: Stratum II test score changes in Germanophone samples (1996–2018) - ScienceDirect 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289622000885

Generational IQ test score changes (the Flynn effect) were globally positive over large parts of the 20th century. However, accumulating evidence of recent studies shows a rather inconsistent pattern in past decades. Patterns of recently observed test score changes appeared to be markedly different in strength and even signs between countries and domains. Because of between-study design differences and data availability in terms of differing IQ domains, it is so far unclear if these inconsistencies represent a consequence of differences in Flynn effect trajectories between countries, covered time-spans, or investigated IQ domains. Here, we present data from 36 largely population-representative Germanophone standardization samples from 12 well-established psychometric tests (17 subtests) of 10 stratum II domains from 1996 to 2018, thus providing a comprehensive assessment of domain-specific changes according to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll intelligence model. Examination of both raw score and measurement-invariant latent mean changes yielded positive (comprehension-knowledge, learning-efficiency, domain-specific knowledge), negative (working memory capacity), stagnating (processing speed, reading and writing), and ambiguous (fluid reasoning, reaction and decision speed, quantitative knowledge, visual processing) stratum II Flynn effects. This means that in the present sample, the Flynn effect is surprisingly differentiated on domain level and does not conform to the frequently observed IQ test score gains in crystallized and fluid intelligence. These findings could be attributed to either (i) a so far undetected domain-specificity of the Flynn effect due to an unavailability of test data beyond crystallized and fluid domains or (ii) a symptom for an impending stagnation of the Flynn effect.

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Frontiers | The relation between rhythm processing and cognitive abilities during child development: The role of prediction

 Frontiers | The relation between rhythm processing and cognitive abilities during child development: The role of prediction 
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920513/full

Rhythm and meter are central elements of music. From the very beginning, children are responsive to rhythms and acquire increasingly complex rhythmic skills over the course of development. Previous research has shown that the processing of musical rhythm is not only related to children's music-specific responses but also to their cognitive abilities outside the domain of music. However, despite a lot of research on that topic, the connections and underlying mechanisms involved in such relation are still unclear in some respects. In this article, we aim at analyzing the relation between rhythmic and cognitive-motor abilities during childhood and at providing a new hypothesis about this relation. We consider whether predictive processing may be involved in the relation between rhythmic and various cognitive abilities and hypothesize that prediction as a cross-domain process is a central mechanism building a bridge between rhythm processing and cognitive-motor abilities. Further empirical studies focusing on rhythm processing and cognitive-motor abilities are needed to precisely investigate the links between rhythmic, predictive, and cognitive processes

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Out-of-level cognitive testing of children with special educational needs.

 Out-of-level cognitive testing of children with special educational needs. 
https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-16305-001.html

Children with special educational needs in the area of learning (SEN-L) have severe learning disabilities and often exhibit substantial cognitive impairments. Therefore, standard assessment instruments of basic cognitive abilities designed for regular school children are frequently too complex for them and, thus, unable to provide reliable proficiency estimates. The present study evaluated whether out-of-level testing with the German version of the Cognitive Abilities Test using test versions developed for younger age groups might suit the needs of these children. Therefore, N = 511 children with SEN-L and N = 573 low achieving children without SEN-L attending fifth grades in Germany were administered four tests measuring reasoning and verbal comprehension that were designed for fourth graders. The results showed that children with SEN-L exhibited significantly more missing responses than children without SEN-L. Moreover, three of the four tests were still too difficult for them. Importantly, no substantial differential response functioning was found for children with and without SEN-L. Thus, out-of-level testing might represent a feasible strategy to assess basic cognitive functioning in children with SEN-L. However, comparative interpretations would require additional norms or linked test versions that place results from out-of-level tests on a common metric.

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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When does working memory get better with longer time? - PsycNET

 When does working memory get better with longer time? - PsycNET 
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxlm0001199

Longer free time between presentation of verbal list items often leads to better immediate serial recall. The present series of three experiments demonstrates that this beneficial effect of time is more general than has been known: It is found for verbal items presented visually and auditorily (Experiments 1 and 2), and also when people engage in concurrent articulation during presentation, thereby preventing rehearsal (Experiment 3). The effect of time is to improve memory most strongly for the later part of the list, contrary to what is predicted from the assumption that time between items is used to bolster memory traces of already encoded items through rehearsal, refreshing, or elaboration. The data are compatible with a ballistic form of short-term consolidation, and with the assumption that encoding an item into working memory partially depletes a limited resource, which is replenished over time

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Network Models for Cognitive Development and Intelligence

 Network Models for Cognitive Development and Intelligence 
https://dare.uva.nl/search?identifier=781f22ef-02f2-40d2-b0dc-f9b2f03a1d4b

Cronbach's (1957) famous division of scientific psychology into two disciplines is still apparent for the fields of cognition (general mechanisms) and intelligence (dimensionality of individual differences). The welcome integration of the two fields requires the construction of mechanistic models of cognition and cognitive development that explain key phenomena in individual differences research. In this paper, we argue that network modeling is a promising approach to integrate the processes of cognitive development and (developing) intelligence into one unified theory. Network models are defined mathematically, describe mechanisms on the level of the individual, and are able to explain positive correlations among intelligence subtest scores—the empirical basis for the well-known g -factor—as well as more complex factorial structures. Links between network modeling, factor modeling, and item response theory allow for a common metric, encompassing both discrete and continuous characteristics, for cognitive development and intelligence. With low vertical pressure (path a ), switches in the middle point of the are continuous, with high vertical pressure (path b ) they are sudden, exhibiting hysteresis, bimodality, divergence, and other typical characteristics of phase transitions. 

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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Measurement invariance in the social sciences: Historical development, methodological challenges, state of the art, and future perspectives - ScienceDirect

 Measurement invariance in the social sciences: Historical development, methodological challenges, state of the art, and future perspectives - ScienceDirect 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049089X22001168

Abstract
This review summarizes the current state of the art of statistical and (survey) methodological research on measurement (non)invariance, which is considered a core challenge for the comparative social sciences. After outlining the historical roots, conceptual details, and standard procedures for measurement invariance testing, the paper focuses in particular on the statistical developments that have been achieved in the last 10 years. These include Bayesian approximate measurement invariance, the alignment method, measurement invariance testing within the multilevel modeling framework, mixture multigroup factor analysis, the measurement invariance explorer, and the response shift-true change decomposition approach. Furthermore, the contribution of survey methodological research to the construction of invariant measurement instruments is explicitly addressed and highlighted, including the issues of design decisions, pretesting, scale adoption, and translation. The paper ends with an outlook on future research perspectives.

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Kevin S. McGrew, PhD
Educational & School Psychologist
Director
Institute for Applied Psychometrics (IAP)
https://www.themindhub.com
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From MDPI: "Exploring Neural Signal Complexity as a Potential Link between Creative Thinking, Intelligence, and Cognitive Control"

https://www.mdpi.com/1384150:

Exploring Neural Signal Complexity as a Potential Link between Creative Thinking, Intelligence, and Cognitive ControlFunctional connectivity studies have demonstrated that creative thinking builds upon an interplay of multiple neural networks involving the cognitive control system. Theoretically, cognitive control has generally been discussed as the common basis underlying the positive relationship between creative thinking and intelligence. However, the literature still lacks a detailed investigation of the association patterns between cognitive control, the factors of creative thinking as measured by divergent thinking (DT) tasks, i.e., fluency and originality, and intelligence, both fluid and crystallized. In the present study, we explored these relationships at the behavioral and the neural level, based on N = 77 young adults. We focused on brain-signal complexity (BSC), parameterized by multi-scale entropy (MSE), as measured during a verbal DT and a cognitive control task. We demonstrated that MSE is a sensitive neural indicator of originality as well as inhibition. Then, we explore the relationships between MSE and factor scores indicating DT and intelligence. In a series of across-scalp analyses, we show that the overall MSE measured during a DT task, as well as MSE[...]


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Kevin McGrew, PhD
Educational Psychologist
Director, Institute for Applied Psychometrics
IAP
www.themindhub.com
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