Past studies have indicated that job performance in general tends not to decline with age, but performance on at least several aptitudes does decline noticeably with age. If these relationships hold up over the entire occupational range, there is the possibility that aptitude correlations with job performance may be moderated by age. To…

The assessment of brain impairment is important in the vocational rehabilitation of persons with neuropsychological dysfunction. To determine the sensitivity of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) to lateralized cerebral dysfunction compared to neuropsychological evaluation, 79 epileptic subjects were assigned to one of three groups…

The Ability Explorer (AE) is a newly developed self-report inventory of abilities that is appropriate for group or individual administration. There are machine-scorable and hand-scorable versions of the test, and there are two levels. Level 1 is for students from junior high to high school, and Level 2 is for high school students and adults.…

This study assessed the bipolarity of cognitive style for 970 clients of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, a vocational guidance service. The 462 male and 508 female examinees were aged 14 to 65 years, with a median age of 24 years. Three cognitive style tests were investigated: (1) the Kagan Matching Familiar Figures Test (KMFFT); (2) the…

The construct of spatial ability is discussed and it is suggested that some widely used and cited tests that are called spatial ability tests may not be valid measures of that ability. Instead, their items may be solved using mental processes that are clearly analytical and not spatial in nature. Four studies involving the analysis of subjects'…

Examinees (N=1,233) at the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation (JOCRF) were administered one of three test forms in which only item order differed. The study was undertaken to determine the validity of the assumption underlying item response theory (IRT) that there are fixed item parameters that can predict performance. The Rasch IRT model was…

This study examined the construct validity of the Rod and Frame Test (RFT). Subjects were 554 clients (269 males and 285 females) (aged 14 to 65 years) of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation (JOCRF), a vocational guidance service. In a battery of diverse ability and style tests (19 tests of the JOCRF battery and 4 tests of cognitive style),…

In April of 1982, the German Federal Armed Forces initiated the first empirical pilot project in the area of computerized adaptive testing (CAT). The configuration of hardware, psychological section, and physiological section is discussed, as well as two current problems (data transfer from the TEST 2000 microcomputer to a large sized computer for…

A computerized adaptive testing version of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (CAT-ASVAB) is being developed to test ten areas of vocational aptitude. Development of the CAT-ASVAB is based upon the use of item banks, testing and scoring procedures, assessment of test reliability and test validity, a technical manual, and the…

This study examined computerized adaptive testing and cognitive ability testing of adults with cognitive disabilities. Adult subjects (N=250) were given computerized tests on language usage and space relations in one of three administration conditions: paper and pencil, fixed length computer adaptive, and variable length computer adaptive.…

Tests of spatial ability were analyzed for their analog (visuospatial) and nonanalog (verbal reasoning) components, using factor analyses of items and test scores. The self-selected sample consisted of over 2000 clients (average age about 26 or 27) employing the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation's aptitude evaluation services in 12 metropolitan…

The Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) is a multiple aptitude battery designed to measure junior and senior high school students' and adults' ability to learn or succeed in certain areas. The test is suitable for group administration and is primarily for use in educational and vocational counseling, although it may be used in employee selection. The…