Explore where selected cohorts overlapped in their assessment of cognitive abilities at the ages of 14 to 16.
For background guidance on the table below, see the main harmonisation feasibility page in this guide.
| Ability domain | NSHD (Age 15) | NCDS (Age 16) | BCS70 (Age 16) | ALSPAC (Age 15) | MCS (Age 14) | MCS (Age 17) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gc (Crystallised ability) | AH4 verbal ability | Vocabulary (APU) | Vocabulary (WASI) | Vocabulary (APU) | ||
| Gc/Grw (Crystallised ability/ Reading & writing) | Watts-Vernon Reading Test | Reading Comprehension (NFER) | Edinburgh Reading Test (ERT) | |||
| Spelling test | ||||||
| Gf (Fluid ability) | AH4 non-verbal ability | Matrices (BAS) | Matrix Reasoning (WASI) | Number Analogies | ||
| Gq (Quantitative knowledge) | Mathematics Test | Mathematics (NFER) | Arithmetic (APU) | Number Analogies | ||
| Gt (Decision speed) | Inhibition (Stop-signal) Task | Cambridge Gambling Task (CANTAB) |
Additional detail on the individual measures is available in the childhood cognition section of this guide.
Explanations of the ability domains are provided in the introductory section.
Explore where similar cognitive abilities have been measured across the studies at other ages:
Explore the full set of cognitive abilities assessed by each of the cohort studies in this guide:
- 1946 National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD)
- 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS)
- 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
- Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)
- Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
This page is part of CLOSER’s ‘A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies’.