Here, intelligence is taken to mean scores from psychometric tests of cognitive functions. This essay describes how cognitive tests offer assessments of brain functioning--an otherwise difficult-to-assess organ--that have proved enduringly useful in the field of health and medicine. The two "consequential world problems" (the phrase used…

Recent theories of autism have emphasised the cognitive strengths and weaknesses in those with autism, which are also seen to some degree in non-clinical samples with higher autistic-like traits. The dual process theory of autism proposes that people with autism and non-clinical people with a higher degree of autistic-like traits have a propensity…

Attachment difficulties are associated with a range of adverse outcomes in mental health, and people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) may be at greater risk of experiencing difficulties in their attachment relationships. This review critically evaluated recent research measuring the prevalence of attachment difficulties in people with ID.…

This article assesses the chances of entering the top 5% of earners for a British cohort currently in their 40s. We assess the difference made by a university degree from an elite (Russell Group) or non-elite university, and from different undergraduate fields of study. Our study uses rich longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study…

Anxiety is a major problem for many people with Asperger's syndrome who may have qualitatively different fears from a non-Asperger's syndrome population. Research has relied on measures developed for non-Asperger's syndrome populations that require reporting past experiences of anxiety, which may confound assessment in people with Asperger's…

Experienced teachers have long asserted that children blind from retinoblastoma (Rb), a rare cancer of the eye, are of above average intelligence. To test this hypothesis, standardized verbal intelligence tests were administered to a sample of 85 children and adults, all diagnosed with the early infancy form of this condition. For 42 of the Rb…

Little is known about the association between measured intelligence and how people participate in democratic processes. In the 1970 British Cohort Study, we examined the association between childhood intelligence and, at age 34: whether and how people voted in the 2001 UK general election; how they intended to vote; and whether they had taken part…

The genetic relationship between intelligence and components of cognition remains controversial. Conflicting results may be a function of the limited number of methods used in experimental evaluation. The current study is the first to use CANTAB (The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery). This is a battery of validated computerised…

Results from a representative sample of 123 adults in the United Kingdom tested with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and a test of word identification time are in line with previous findings that speed of information processing is significantly related to performance IQ but not to verbal IQ. (SLD)

Reviews research on ability testing for adults with visual impairments, especially the tests used for vocational assessment and counseling. The verbal scales of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised were found to be widely accepted. The problems, however, with relying solely on verbal assessment are addressed, and the need for tests for…