The Development and Validation of a Test Battery to Measure Differentiated Cognitive Abilities in Three-Year-Old Children

Abstract

A 35-40 minute battery of eight tests was constructed to measure the following four specific cognitive abilities in young, preschool children: verbal skill, memory, perceptual speed, and spatial ability. The battery was administered to 98 preschool children. A factor analysis of the intercorrelations of the eight tests revealed four interpretable factors each representing one of the targeted abilities. Prior to this study, evidence for this particular organization of cognitive abilities in young children had not been reported in other factor analytic studies of existing preschool mental tests. An explanation for this fact might be that the earlier test batteries were not designed to measure particular cognitive abilities. On the other hand, the eight considered for this study had been designed expressly for that purpose. Based on results of factor analyses, a shorter version of the test battery, consisting of four tests, was devised. This shorter version which can be administered in 20 minutes, shows promising validity relative to the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.