Retest Effect on Cognitive Performance on the Raven-38 Matrices in France and in the Congo

Abstract

Raven's Standard Matrices were administered three times to students in their sixth year of schooling in France and in the Congo. When self-paced, 63 French and 88 Congolese students progressed moderately from Tests 1 to 2 and made no progress from Sessions 2 to 3. When timed, the French and Congolese subjects progressed rapidly from Sessions 1 to 2 (with a sharper progression by the French subjects) but only the Congolese progressed from Sessions 2 to 3. A simple retest procedure emerges as a poor candidate for correcting biases based on imbalances in familiarity with problem situations and the test situation in cross-cultural comparisons. It is suggested that dynamic evaluation procedures could reduce these biases.

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