COGNITIVE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND THE SUCCESSFUL PERFORMER - A STUDY ONSPATIAL ABILITY

An important trend in educational measurement is the use of principles of cognitive psychology to design achievement and ability test items. Many studies show that manipulating the stimulus features of items in fluences the processes, strategies, and knowledge structures that are involved in solution. However, little Is known about how cognitive des ign influences individual differences. That is, does applying cognitiv e design principles change the background skills and abilities that ar e associated with successful performance? This study compared the corr elates of two spatial ability tests that used the same item type but d ifferent test design principles (cognitive design versus psychometric design). The results indicated differences in factorial complexity in the two rests; specifically, the impact of verbal abilities was substa ntially reduced by applying the cognitive design principles.