In comparison to young adults, middle-aged and old people show lower scores in intelligence tests and slower response times in elementary cognitive tasks. Whether these well-documented findings can both be attributed to a general cognitive slow-down across the life-span has become subject to debate in the last years. The drift diffusion model can…

The focus of this study was on gifted adults' perceptions of multigenerational giftedness in their families. Participants have been surveyed annually since their high school graduation in 1988. The purpose of the longitudinal study is to gain insight into the career and life development of gifted individuals post-high school. For the present…

Investigates intellectual differences among high-fit young and old and low-fit young and old adult men before and after an exercise program. It is not clear from this study whether improvement in cognitive functioning with exercise is due to physiological or psychological changes or both. (Author/CC)

Obtained a hierarchical factor solution on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) subtest intercorrelations for the nine age groups included in the standardization sample. Findings support the validity of the WAIS-R as a measure of general intelligence and the validity of maintaining separate Verbal and Performance IQs. (Author)

Although attention has been given to the intellectual functioning of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) relative to their non-ADHD peers, few studies have examined intellectual functioning in adults with ADHD. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine differences in intellectual ability between adults with…

The Revised Wechsler Memory Scale, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale subtests, and Halstead-Reitan battery were factor analyzed. Five types of memory were isolated: immediate verbal, recent verbal, recent figural, figural learning, and verbal learning storage. Loadings of memory and nonmemory tests indicate a closer relationship between some of…

A study of 18 Down Syndrome and 18 other mentally retarded adults found evidence of a significant erosion of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children scores from the third to fourth decades of life. The Block Design subtest was especially vulnerable to performance decline with age in the Down Syndrome adults. (Author/JDD)

The author reviews cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the status of intelligence in the aging, and finds conflicting conclusions: (1) intelligence does decline as persons grow older; (2) only some aspects decline while others improve; and (3) intelligence does not decline. Certain factors are adduced to suggest that such…

Subjects with higher verbal than performance IQ's achieved significantly poorer Pascal-Suttell Bender-Gestalt scores than subjects with higher performance over verbal IQ's. The latter subjects were more likely to have dropped out of high school and to have spent some time in prison. (Author/RD)

Army alpha longitudinal data on the same 96 males tested in 1919, 1950, and 1960 were analyzed in addition to data on 123 undergraduates tested in 1972-4. Young adults in 1919 and 1970 were similar. Results suggest that traditional factor analysis taxonomies for young adults misrepresent elderly persons. (Author/CP)

We aimed to design alternative estimates of pre-morbid/prior intelligence to the National Adult Reading Test (NART) and the Spot-the-Word (STW) in order to tap non-vocabulary based knowledge stores. The rationale for the development of the new tests was that more cognitively able individuals acquire and retain more "singular facts" from their…

Results from the Colorado Adoption Project, a longitudinal study initiated in 1975, are reported. The cognitive ability of parents and measures of one-year olds' mental development were significantly correlated for all three parent/child comparisons. Caldwell's HOME Responsibility measure was correlated with infant intelligence in adoptive and…

Investigated the change in IQ scores over time of subjects in classes for the Educable Mentally Handicapped. Analysis indicated a significant difference existed between Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children scores administered at initial placement and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores administered later (mean age, 17 years-6 months).…

Scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) were compared with reevaluation scores obtained four years later on the WAIS-Revised for a group of 108 mildly and moderately retarded adults. The moderately retarded subgroups (N=22) demonstrated significantly higher WAIS-R intelligence quotients. Implications for use of the WAIS-R are…

IN THE LONGITUDINAL BERKELEY GROWTH STUDY, SUBJECTS WERE TESTED AT 16, 18, 21, AND 26 YEARS ON THE WECHSLER-BELLEVUE, AND AT 36 YEARS ON THE WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE, WHICH CONTAIN BOTH VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL SUBSCALES. THE MOST CONSISTENT INCREASES IN MEAN SCORES OVER THE PERIOD WERE IN INFORMATION, VOCABULARY, AND COMPREHENSION. DIGIT…