Here Paul Black comments on the paper by Clark in this issue. Black first comments that the Clark paper highlights two possible factors that might effect trends of change over time. The first is that the population has become more adept at dealing with the types of challenges IQ tests present to them. Such explanations must be analyzed in light of…

Clark, Lawlor-Savage, and Goghari (this issue) point out that evidence of IQ rises had been documented decades before it was named the Flynn effect. These previous studies, however, were conducted sporadically and in isolated samples. Flynn (1984, 1987) examined them in a large-scale manner and was able to show their systematic and global nature.…

Average intelligence quotient (IQ) scores have been rising throughout the 20th century and likely before--a pattern now known as the Flynn effect. The central thesis of this paper is that the Flynn effect does not represent genuine increases in general intelligence but rather an increasing aptitude for the types of modern thinking that modern life…

Patterns of maintenance of ability across the life span have been documented on tests of knowledge ("Gc"), as have patterns of steady decline on measures of reasoning ("Gf/Gv"), working memory ("Gsm"), and speed ("Gs"). Whether these patterns occur at the same rate for adults from different educational…

Many Flynn effect (FE) studies compare scores across different editions of Wechsler's IQ tests. When construct changes are introduced by the test developers in the new edition, however, the presumed generational effects are difficult to untangle from changes due to test content. To remove this confound, we use the same edition of Wechsler…