NSHD – Age 8 – Picture Intelligence

The MRC National Survey of Health of Development (NSHD) assessed their cohort members (CMs) during the study’s age 8 sweep using the Picture Intelligence measure.

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

Year of data collection:	1954
Domain:	Non-verbal (reasoning)
Measures:	Non-verbal ability
	Induction
	General sequential reasoning
CHC:	Gf (Fluid intelligence)
CLOSER source:	Explore this sweep in CLOSER Discovery: NSHD 1954 (Age 8) (opens in a new tab)
Administration method:	Teacher/psychologist/trained individual; face to face; pen and paper
Procedure:	This test was comprised of three sections. In section 1, participants were presented with 15 series, each consisting of 5 images (4 of which were conceptually similar), and were asked to select the ‘odd one out’. Section 2 consisted of 20 incomplete picture series, and participants were instructed to select, from 5 different options, the correct picture to complete each series. Section 3 included 25 conceptual similarity tasks. Participants were asked to choose, from 5 options, a picture that corresponded with an established rule, e.g. “foot is to shoe as head is to hat”. Each section was preceded by a practice trial. The overall testing session at age 8 lasted under 2 hours.
Link to questionnaire:	https://skylark.ucl.ac.uk/NSHD/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=questionnaires:1954_sm_nf2.pdf (opens in new tab)
Scoring:	One point awarded per correct answer (0 – 60)
Item-level variable(s):	Not currently available
Total score/derived variable(s):	PI8R, PI8R54, PI854, PI8N
Descriptives:	Raw score	Normalised score
	N = 4,266	N = 4,266
	Range = 0 – 60	Range = 54 – 152
	Mean = 40.20	Mean = 101.64
	SD = 9.48	SD = 15.02
	(click image to enlarge)	(click image to enlarge)
Age of participants:	8 years 6 months
Other sweep and/or cohort:	None
Source:	Pigeon DA. Tests used in the 1954 and 1957 surveys. In: Douglas JWB, ed. The home and the school. London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1964. (Appendix 1.)
Technical resources:	None
Example articles:	Richards, M., Hardy, R., Kuh, D., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Birth weight and cognitive function in the British 1946 birth cohort: longitudinal population based study. BMJ, 322(7280), 199-203.
	Kuh, D., Richards, M., Hardy, R., Butterworth, S., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2004). Childhood cognitive ability and deaths up until middle age: a post-war birth cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(2), 408-413.