Raven's Progressive Matrices and the Category test

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I have posted a few things about these tests before, but not
too many people responded. I really didn't receive any answers
to the questions I asked about these tests from those who did
respond. Hopefully someone who knows something about these
two psychometric tests will be able to answer my questions this
time.

First of all....i've taken the Raven's test and tests similar to it several
times. The Matrix Reasoning subtest on the performance IQ section
of WAIS is modeled on the Raven's. The Matrix Reasoning test was
included on at least four out of the five WAIS tests i've taken. I'm
not sure if it was included on the most recent WAIS I had or not.
Unlike all my other neuropsych evals/WAIS tests....the report isn't
very detailed and nothing is mentioned about any of my subtest
results. Thanks to my eidetic memory ......I don't remember
much about which subtests I took on my various WAIS tests and
which ones I didn't.

I've also taken a few tests online which are very similar to the Raven's.
One was posted by another WP member a few months ago. The actual
Raven's was included on at least one of the neuropsychologial evaluations
i've had. On both the professionally-administered Raven's and the ones
similar to it that i've taken online, my scores are consistently in the average
range. I always score right around the 50% percentile give or take a few
points. My scores on the Matrix Reasoning test on the three WAIS tests I
had which included the MR subtest were low average, average and superior
respectively.

The Raven's test is supposedly one of the most heavily "G-loaded" IQ
tests in existence. Provided "G" is applicable to people with ASD's (i'm
including NVLD here as an autistic spec disorder btw) since we often
display alot of "scatter" on our IQ tests, I suppose this may mean my
"general intelligence" is squarely within the average range.

My percentile rankings/scores on the Raven's (and similar tests)
are very similar to most of the scores on PIQ section of the WAIS tests
i've taken. The Raven's are, ofcourse, non-verbal tests and so are all
the subtests on the PIQ section of WAIS. Nonetheless, i'm very hestitant
to say that the PIQ subtests on WAIS and the Raven's measure the same
skills (with the exception of the Matrix Reasoning subtest on WAIS.) I say
this because it many people with AS/NVLD perform poorly (at least relative
to their verbal IQ scores) on the PIQ section of WAIS. Many of these same
people seem to perform comparatively better on the Raven's tests though.
The Raven's is supposed to be a test of pattern recognition. I would think
that alot of people with NVLD would perform quite poorly on the Raven's
test, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Even I score within the average
range on it. There are many people with NVLD/AS who perform much
better than I do on the Raven's tests. Yet many of these same people
obtain significantly LOWER scores than I do on the PIQ section of WAIS.

This leads me to believe that the PIQ subtests on WAIS (again....with the
exception of Matrix Reasoning) and Raven's tests do not measure the same
abilites in spite of the fact that my PIQ scores and the results of the Raven's
i've taken are very similar in terms of percentile ranking/level of functioning

Furthermore....the results of the actual Raven's Progressive Matrices
test I had were included the executive functioning results of my
neuropsychological evaluation. Again..i've always heard the Raven's
described as a pattern recognition test or a non-verbal IQ test. I've also
heard that it's a test of abstract reasoning. Executive functions are
supposed to be largely, if not entirely, responsible for abstract reasoning
so perhaps this is why my Raven's results were included among the
executive functioning results of the neuropsych eval i'm referring to.


It's gets even more confusing to me because I supposedly have
strong abstract reasoning abilities according to the neuropsych
evals i've taken which mention anything about my abstract reasoning
abilities at all. And yet I scored within the "impaired" range (<1st%) on
the Category Test which is one of eight subtests included on the Halstead-
Reitan neuropsychological battery. The Category Test is supposed to be
one of the most sensitive indicators of brain damage among all the
standard neuropsychological tests. Specifically, it's supposed to suggest
some damage to the frontal lobe, but it cannot specify the exact location
or extent of the damage within the frontal lobe. This in itself would make
sense considering the Category Test is considered a test of at least certain
key aspects of executive functioning and the frontal lobe most likely plays
a major role (if not the entire role) in executive functioning.

What doesn't make much sense to me is that the Category Test
is also supposed to measure abstract reasoning. If this is so,
why are my abstract reasoning abilities so strong according
to my neuropsych evals when my score on the
Category Test is in the "impaired" range?

Does the Category Test simply measure a different TYPE of abstract reasoning? IS THERE different types of abstract reasoning?

Perhaps verbal and non-verbal abstract reasoning?


Does anyone know if people with NVLD/AS often perform poorly on this Category Test?

If the Raven's test is truly a measure of abstract reasoning as well, then why are my own abstract reasoning abilities supposedly so good when the results of all my Raven's/similar tests are perfectly average?

What led the psychologists who administered my neuropsych evals/IQ tests to conclude that my abstract reasoning abilities are so strong when my results on two very respected psychometric tests which supposedly MEASURE ABSTRACT REASONING were mediorce at best (my results on Raven's and similar tests) and impaired at worst? (the Category test)

I can only speculate about this. Perhaps the Raven's and/or Category Test measure specific subtypes of abstract reasoning? Perhaps they don't even measure the SAME specific subtypes of abstract reasoning? I say this because, comparatively speaking, I perform much better on the Raven's tests than I did on the Category test. Maybe the psychologists refer to the types of abstract reasoning measured by Raven's and/or the Category Test as something other than abstract reasoning?
Maybe both test simply involve different NON-VERBAL subtypes of this cognitive skill psychologists call abstract reasoning?

The following excerpt about the Category Test is from the
book, "Neuropsycological assessment of neuropsychiatric
and neuromedical disorders":

"The Category Test is probably the best measure in the Halstead-Reitan battery of abstraction, reasoning and logical analysis abilities which in turn are essential for organized planning. As noted earlier, subjects who perform especially poorly on the category test often complain of having "memory problems". In fact, the category test requires organized memory (as contrasted with the simple reproduction of stimulus material required of most short-term memory tests) and is probably a more meaningful indication of memory in practical, complex, everyday situations than most so-called memory tests especially considering that memory in a purposeful, behaviroal context necessarily depends on relating the various aspects of a situation to another"


One of my biggest complaints in terms of my overall cognitive functioning
is my memory. Not so much my short-term/working memory, I seem have
few problems there. It is my LONG-TERM semantic, procedural and episodic
memory that seems extremely poor. This is situation is the diametric opposite
of what most with NVLD/AS claim about their own memories.

So again....i'm wondering if anyone out there with NVLD/AS has ever
taken this Category test. If you did....how did you you do on it? If your
scores were very low, do you also experience ANYKIND of memory
problems? The above excerpt is not specific about what KIND
of memory problems individuals who perform poorly on the Category
test often complain of.

Thus....I can't be sure if my own poor performance on the Category test
has anything at all to do with the long-term memory deficits I believe I
have. Based upon what is said, I tend to believe the author of the above
excerpt is referring to short-term/working memory, but again, I can't be
sure.

If so....that would again be rather strange since all the results of my
actual memory tests on my neuropsych evals suggest my short-term/
working memory is at least average. They also suggest the same thing
about my long-term memory, but as i've pointed out before here on WP,
there is reason to believe the standard neuropsychological tests of memory
are VERY limited in regards to what they can determine about one's LONG-
TERM memory. As far as I know....the tests of short-term/working memory
are pretty reliable overall. So if the author is referring to short-term/working
memory here, i'm not one of those who performed "especially poorly" on
the Category test who complains of short-term/working memory problems.

Profound and debilitating long-term memory problems yes.....short-term/working memory problems no. I think most of you can understand why
the former would be far,far more serious than the latter. At least when it comes
to academic performance and other areas of life in which long-term memory is
critically important.