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Cross-study data guides
A guide to the cognitive measures in five CLOSER studies
Explore cognition measurements across the CLOSER partner studies
Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Cognitive measures in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

The cognitive measures included in ALSPAC between the ages of 4 months and 5 years were carried out as part of “Children in Focus” clinic visits. These clinics were attended by a sub-sample of 10% of the original ALSPAC cohort, who were picked at random from the last 6 months of ALSPAC births. Later cognitive assessments were carried out in the “Focus at …” clinics which were open to all of the ALSPAC cohort.

Additionally, the mothers of the original ALSPAC cohort children were invited to clinics (“Focus on Mothers”) where cognitive assessments took place.

Click on the individual cognitive measures to find out more.

Age	Measure
4 months (Tests administered to a randomly selected sub-sample.)	Habituation Task
18 months (Tests administered to a randomly selected sub-sample.)	Griffiths Scales of Mental Development (GSMD) Locomotor Scale Personal-Social Scale Hearing and Speech Scale Hand and Eye Coordination Scale Performance Scale
25 months (Tests administered to a randomly selected sub-sample.)	The Reynell Developmental Language Scale Verbal Comprehensions Subscale Object Naming Assessment (phonology screening procedure)
49 months (Tests administered to a randomly selected sub-sample.)	Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Revised (WPPSI-RUK) Object Assembly Geometric Design Block Design Mazes Picture Completion Information Comprehension Arithmetic Vocabulary Similarities Short-term Memory (Digit Span Test)
61 months (Tests administered to a randomly selected sub-sample.)	Short-term Memory (Digit Span Test) Short-term Memory (Non-word Repetition) Bus Story Initial Consonants Detection Test Multisyllabic Word Repetition The Reynell Developmental Language Scale Verbal Comprehensions Subscale
7.5 years	Basic Reading Phoneme Deletion Task Spelling Task Letter Decision Task Motor Ability Task
8 years	Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) Object Assembly Coding Block Design Picture Arrangement Picture Completion Information Comprehension Arithmetic Vocabulary Similarities Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) Sky Search Dividing Attention (Dual Task) Attentional Control (Opposite Worlds) Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy Faces Subtest Wechsler Objective Language Dimensions Listening Comprehension (second part only) Oral Expression Short-term Memory (Non-word Repetition) Articulatory Skills
9 years	Word and Non-word Reading Spelling Task Neale Analysis Of Reading Ability (NARA-II) Sentence Decision Task
10 years	Working Memory (Counting Span Task) Inhibition (Stop-Signal Task)
11 years	Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) Sky Search Dividing Attention (Dual Task) Attentional Control (Opposite Worlds) Higher Conceptual Reasoning (Bike Drawing Task)
12 years	Phonological Awareness (Spoonerisms) Test of Word Reading Efficiency/fluency (TOWRE) Motor Skill and Movement Test
13.5 years	Reaction Time (Simple Choice Digit Vigilance) Test of Word Reading Efficiency/fluency (TOWRE)
15.5 years	Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) Vocabulary Matrix Reasoning Inhibition (Stop Signal Task)
17.5 years	Working Memory (N-back Task) Information Processing Biases (Affective Go/No-Go Task) Behavioural Inhibition (Probability Learning and Reversal Task)
24 years years	Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) Digit Symbol Coding Voluntary task Inhibition N-Back Task (working memory) Emotion Recognition Task Source Monitoring Task Jumping to Conclusions Task Predictive Processing Task
50 years (Tests administered to the study mothers in Focus on Mother’s Clinic 2)	Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test
52 years (Tests administered to the study mothers in Focus on Mother’s Clinic 3)	Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test
53 years (Tests administered to the study mothers in Focus on Mother’s Clinic 4)	Logic Memory Digits Backwards Spot the Word Digit Symbol Coding Verbal Fluency Test