The Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) taxonomy of cognitive abilities married John Horn and Raymond Cattell's Extended Gf-Gc theory with John Carroll's Three-Stratum Theory. While there are some similarities in arrangements or classifications of tasks (observed variables) within similar broad or narrow dimensions, other salient theoretical features and…

The purpose of this commentary is to focus on the clinical utility of the four- and five-factor structural models for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). It provides a discussion of important considerations when evaluating the clinical utility of the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB-V), based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of intelligence using a sample of 200 preschool children. The CHC framework uses three different models: one similar to Spearman's "g", one similar to the…

Spearman's law of diminishing returns (SLODR) posits that at higher levels of general cognitive ability the general factor ("g") performs less well in explaining individual differences in cognitive test performance. Research has generally supported SLODR, but previous research has required the a priori division of respondents into…

The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) is designed to assess a person's proneness to committing cognitive slips and errors in the completion of everyday tasks. Although the CFQ is a widely used instrument, its factor structure remains an issue of scientific debate. The present study used data of a representative sample (N = 1,303, 24-83 years…

The authors of the current study examined the relationships among item-recognition, source-recognition, free recall, and other memory and cognitive ability tasks via an individual differences analysis. Two independent sources of variance contributed to item-recognition and source-recognition performance, and these two constructs related…

The aim of this study was to develop a scale assessing high school students' self-efficacy beliefs in chemistry-related tasks and to assess psychometric properties of scores on this scale. A pilot study with a sample of 150 high school students provided initial evidence for two-factor structure of 16-item scale, named High School Chemistry…

The objective of this study is to explore the potential for developing IRT-based working memory scales for assessing specific working memory components in children (8-13 years). These working memory scales should measure cognitive abilities reliably in the upper range of ability distribution as well as in the normal range, and provide a…

This study evaluated the utility of the social competence scale (SCS)-parent version, a measure of social competence developed for children of elementary school age, for use with preschool-age children. Data were derived from two samples of preschoolers: a community sample assessed at enrollment to pre-kindergarten programs and a high-risk sample…

A historical increase in the number of factors purportedly measured by commercial tests of cognitive ability may result from four distinct pressures including: increasingly complex models of intelligence, test publishers' desires to provide clinically useful assessment instruments with greater interpretive value, test publishers' desires to…

This study explored the contribution of the phonological and executive working memory (WM) systems to 205 (102 girls, 103 boys, 6 to 9 years old) elementary school children's fluid and crystallized intelligence. The results show that (a) a 3-factor structure (phonological short-term memory [STM], visual-spatial WM, and verbal WM) was comparable…

The Gifted Rating Scales-School Form (GRS-S) has been validated in several countries; however, no study has examined the rater invariance of this measure. The present study built on previous validity studies and examined configural and metric invariance between parent and teacher raters using the Chinese version of the GRS-S Teacher and Parent…

The Educational Testing Service Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests contains 72 tests that are supposed to be markers of 23 latent cognitive constructs. Examination of the factor structure of four of these tests with 165 undergraduates suggests caution in using the measures as markers of distinct factors. (SLD)

With 101 healthy aging adult participants, the authors investigated whether executive functions are a unitary concept. The authors established the factor structure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; E. A. Berg, 1948), the Stroop color and word test (C. J. Golden, 1978), verbal fluency using the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT;…

The model of cognitive ability proposed by John B. Carroll is described and its implications for education traced. The Carroll model is unique in that it is based on datasets reanalyzed by standard procedures. The variables and factors established through factoring were used to construct the three-stratum Carroll model. (SLD)