Developing a fluid intelligence scale through a combination of Rasch modeling and cognitive psychology

Ability testing has been criticized because understanding of the construct being assessed is incomplete and because the testing has not yet been satisfactorily improved in accordance with new knowledge from cognitive psychology. This article contributes to the solution of this problem through the application of item response theory and Susan Embretson's cognitive design system for test development in the development of a fluid intelligence scale. This study is based on findings from cognitive psychology; instead of focusing on the development of a test, it focuses on the definition of a variable for the creation of a criterion-referenced measure for fluid intelligence. A geometric matrix item bank with 26 items was analyzed with data from 2,797 undergraduate students. The main result was a criterion-referenced scale that was based on information from item features that were linked to cognitive components, such as storage capacity, goal management, and abstraction; this information was used to create the descriptions of selected levels of a fluid intelligence scale. The scale proposed that the levels of fluid intelligence range from the ability to solve problems containing a limited number of bits of information with obvious relationships through the ability to solve problems that involve abstract relationships under conditions that are confounded with an information overload and distraction by mixed noise. This scale can be employed in future research to provide interpretations for the measurements of the cognitive processes mastered and the types of difficulty experienced by examinees.