Word frequency effects and intelligence testing

Participants completed two near identical reasoning tests in different orders. One completed the Baddeley (1968) verbal reasoning test which had the words ‘precede’ or ‘does not precede’ on half the items while the other substituted this for ‘comes before’ or ‘does not come before’, a version used by Hartley and Holt (1971) . Word frequency tables suggests the second version would be easier than the first. Those who did the first followed by the second version increased their score by over 10 points, while those who did the reverse order showed no difference between scores. Implications for testing non-native speakers is discussed.