Short Period Fluctuations in Intelligence Final Report

The problem of isolating fluctuations in intellectual function is one that has long intrigued both psychologists and non-psychologists, We are all aware of our own short-period physiological, mood and motivational changes and many believe that their intelligence must undergo similar change. 1965 for a recent review) does not provide support for this kind of argu- ment. It indicates that measures of intelligence - -at least those intended for use with people other than infants --are usually highly stable over both short and rather extended periods of time: the changes which are indicated have almost always been regarded as errors of measurement. Thus in scientific developments (as opposed, perhaps, to common- sense discussions) ;intelligence usually has been regarded as a highly stable attribute of man.

But existing scientific evidence (see Tyler, A notable exception to the scientific theory arguing (albeit im- plicitly) that human intellect does not fluctuate over short period of time is that of Moran (1961) and his co-workers (Moran, Kimble & Mefferd, 1960; 1964; Moran & Mefferd, 1959). The work of these in- vestigators has been directed at designing alternate -form tests to measure some of what are now regarded as the major, replicated-by- research dimensions of human intelligence, viz., what are known as the primary mental abilities (French, 1951: French, Ekstrom & Price, 1963; Guilford, 1966; Guilford & Merrifield, 1960). The Repetitive Psychological Measures (RPM) resulting from this work are intended to assess "change in performance with time" (Moran & Mefferd, 1959: p. 269). little has been done to determine whether or not the performances actually assessed do, in fact, change in a reliable manner. Indeed, evidence somewhat contrary to an hypothesis of short-period change is provided by the high (relative to test length) test-retest correlations ob- tained over a period of 3 hours with the RPM tests (Moran & Mefferd, 1959; Table 2). Hence, while a basic hypothesis underlying this work certainly does imply that abilities change over short periods, evidence for this hypothesis either has not been developed or, where it has (as in test-retest correlations), does not provide convincing support for the hypothesis