THE DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVE-COMPLEXITY - CROSS-SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL EVIDENCE

This research investigates whether (1) a cognitive complexity factor e xists that is developmentally stable, and (2) whether the relationship s that this factor has to other cognitive variables are also stable. U sing a cross-sectional adult sample it is shown that there is a common factor structure that describes cognitive complexity in three cohorts spanning the age range from 18 to 70. The relationship of cognitive c omplexity to memory performance is age-independent also. Cognitive com plexity enhances reproduction of texts. In a longitudinal study involv ing adolescents it is shown that, across four observation points, indi cators of cognitive complexity can be explained from a time-independen t second order cognitive complexity factor. An autoregressive structur e of cognitive complexity does not seem to exist in this age bracket. In contrast, visual-cognitive performance does possess an autoregressi ve structure. In addition, cognitive complexity predicts visual-cognit ive performance. Developmental implications are discussed.