Despite substantial evidence for the link between an individual's intelligence and successful life outcomes, questions about what defines intelligence have remained the focus of heated dispute. The most common approach to understanding intelligence has been to investigate what performance on tests of intellect is and is not associated with. This…

This article reviews the embodied theoretical basis for the meaningful learning of abstract vocabulary and reviews selected educational programs that are theoretically based and have both success and promise for abstract vocabulary development. Abstract vocabulary is a mainstay of academic vocabulary, but its nature and educational development are…

Criticisms about psychometric paradigms currently used in healthcare professions education include claims of reductionism, objectification, and poor compliance with assumptions. Nevertheless, perhaps the most crucial criticism comes from learners' difficulty in interpreting and making meaningful use of summative scores and the potentially…

Examinees' thinking processes have become an increasingly important concern in testing. The responses processes aspect is a major component of validity, and contemporary tests increasingly involve specifications about the cognitive complexity of examinees' response processes. Yet, empirical research findings on examinees' cognitive processes are…

The initial state parameters s[subscript 0] and w[subscript 0] are intricate issues of the averaging cognitive models in Information Integration Theory. Usually they are defined as a measure of prior information (Anderson, 1981; 1982) but there are no general rules to deal with them. In fact, there is no agreement as to their treatment except in…

This article analyzes latent variable models from a cognitive psychology perspective. We start by discussing work by Tuerlinckx and De Boeck (2005), who proved that a diffusion model for 2-choice response processes entails a 2-parameter logistic item response theory (IRT) model for individual differences in the response data. Following this line…

This article presents a unified model for cognitive processing, WICS, which is an acronym for wisdom, intelligence, and creativity, synthesized. The model can be applied to identification/admissions, diagnosis, instruction, and assessment. I discuss why there is a need for such a model. Then I describe traditional models, after which I describe…

Mental chronometry (MC) studies cognitive processes measured by time. It provides an absolute, ratio scale. The limitations of instrumentation and statistical analysis caused the early studies in MC to be eclipsed by the "paper-and-pencil" psychometric tests started by Binet. However, they use an age-normed, rather than a ratio scale, which…

It is widely assumed that older adults suffer a deficit in the psychological processes that underlie remembering of contextual or source information. This conclusion is based in large part on empirical interactions, including disordinal ones, that reveal differential effects of manipulations of memory strength on recognition in young and old…

The Functional Measurement approach, proposed within the theoretical framework of Information Integration Theory (Anderson, 1981, 1982), can be a useful multi-attribute analysis tool. Compared to the majority of statistical models, the averaging model can account for interaction effects without adding complexity. The R-Average method (Vidotto &…

Following G. T. Fechner (1966), thresholds have been conceptualized as the amount of intensity needed to transition between mental states, such as between a states of unconsciousness and consciousness. With the advent of the theory of signal detection, however, discrete-state theory and the corresponding notion of threshold have been discounted.…

A variety of cognitive diagnosis approaches (CDAs) have been used by researchers to extract fine-grained information about the linguistic knowledge states and skill mastery levels of test takers based on their performance on language tests. Although some of these approaches have been in use in the psychometric community for quite some time, many…

The authors propose a simple behavioral economic model (BEM) describing how reinforcement and interval timing interact. The model assumes a Weber-law-compliant logarithmic representation of time. Associated with each represented time value are the payoffs that have been obtained for each possible response. At a given real time, the response with…

Just as objectivist theories have provided foundations for traditional tests, constructivist theories can offer foundations for performance assessment design and development methods. The tenets and principles embedded in various learning theories provide a solid foundation that can be combined with psychometric principles to help assessment…

The authors describe the development and validation of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y), a child-report measure of psychological inflexibility engendered by high levels of cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance. Consistent with the theory underlying acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), items converged into a…