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ALSPAC – Age 4 – WPPSI-RUK Geometric Design

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) assessed their cohort members (CMs) at 49 months’ age (Children in Focus Clinic) using the Geometric Design measure from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Revised (WPPSI-RUK).

Details on this measure and the data collected from the CMs are outlined in the table below.


Domain:Non-verbal ability
Measures:Visual recognition
Spatial visualisation
Visual organisation
Visual-motor coordination
Fine-motor ability/finger dexterity
Simultaneous processing
CHC:Gv (Visual Processing)
Administration method:Trained interviewer; clinical setting; pen and paper
Procedure:The child was presented with a stimulus booklet, and pen and paper. The subtest contains two sections: i) first, they were asked to match a pictured design from an array of four designs (items 1-8 in picture booklet) and ii) they were required to copy a geometric figure from a printed model (items 9-16 in picture booklet). Encouragement (e.g. "do your best"), but no assistance, was provided. There was no fixed time limit for this subtest. The first 8 items were scored at one point each, the last eight items were worth 4 points for a total raw score of 57 points.
Link to questionnaire:http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/our-data/clinical-measures/ (opens in new tab)
Scoring:Standardised score (M = 10, SD = 3)
Item-level variable(s):Not readily available
Total score/derived variable(s):cf802
Descriptives:Raw score
N = 1,018
Range = 2 - 18
Mean = 10.11
SD = 2.48
(click image to enlarge)
Age of participants:Mean = 212.39 weeks, SD = 1.63, Range = 207-221
Other sweep and/or cohort:None
Source:Wechsler, D. (1989). Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised. WPPSI-R. Psychological Corporation.
Technical resources:Kaufman, A. S., & Lichtenberger, E. O. (2000). Essentials of WISC-III and WPPSI-R Assessment. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Reference examples:Gathercole, S. E., Briscoe, J., Thorn, A., Tiffany, C., & ALSPAC Study Team. (2008). Deficits in verbal long-term memory and learning in children with poor phonological short-term memory skills. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(3), 474-490.
Taylor, C. M., Kordas, K., Golding, J., & Emond, A. M. (2017). Data relating to prenatal lead exposure and child IQ at 4 and 8 years old in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Neurotoxicology, 62, 224-230.

For the named item in the table above, a link is provided to the corresponding CLOSER Discovery content.


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