Overview of cognitive measures across adulthood

Click on the individual cognitive measures to find out more.

Age	NSHD	NCDS	BCS70	ALSPAC
20s	Age 26: The Watts-Vernon Reading Test		*Age 21:** Literacy and Numeracy Assessments (ALBSU devised)
30s		*Age 37:** Basic Literacy and Numeracy Skills (ALBSU and NFER devised)	Age 34: Basic Skills (Literacy and Numeracy Assessments) Literacy and Numeracy Skills
40s	Age 43: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test Long-term Recall Visual Memory Timed Letter Search/ Letter Cancellation Test Motor Speed and Praxis		Age 42: Applied Psychology Unit (APU) Vocabulary Test Age 46-47: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test (Immediate and Delayed) Timed Letter Search/Letter Cancellation Test Verbal Fluency (Animal Naming) Test
50s	Age 53: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test Timed Letter Search/ Letter Cancellation Test Verbal Fluency (Animal Naming) Test Delayed Verbal Memory National Adult Reading Test (NART) Prospective Memory	Age 50: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test Timed Letter Search/ Letter Cancellation Test Verbal Fluency (Animal Naming) Test	Age 50:** Proposed repeat of some (and other) adult tests within and across cohort(s)	Age 50 (Focus on Mother’s Clinic 2): Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test Age 52 (Focus on Mother’s Clinic 3): Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test Age 53 (Focus on Mother’s Clinic 4): Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test
60s	Age 60-64: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test Timed Letter Search/ Letter Cancellation Test Reaction Time Test	Age 61-63:** Proposed repeat of tests at age 50
60s/ 70s	Age 68-70: Verbal Learning/ Word List Recall Test Timed Letter Search/ Letter Cancellation Test Finger Tapping Test Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III): Total Score Attention/ Orientation Scale Memory Fluency Language Test Visuospatial Skills

Notes. The MCS cohort has not yet reached adulthood (as of the time of writing) so is not included in this table. *Tests completed by a sub-sample. **At the time of writing, cognitive tests were provisional pending pilot and fieldwork.

Explore the cognitive measures across studies in early life:

Overview of cognitive measures across childhood

Explore the cognitive measures in the cohort studies covered by this guide:

Further information:

This page is part of CLOSER’s ‘A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies’.