Cognition is fluid. It’s well-documented that intelligence quotient (IQ) scores change over time and normative versions of assessments like the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) must be updated to reflect those changes.
“Information dissemination happens at a much greater rate and volume [and] the advent of technology has increased the capacity for people to process things at a different pace [and] impacted retention,” explains Patrick Moran, Director of Sales, Government and Public Safety for Pearson Clinical Assessment. “There are also demographic, cultural and societal changes…that we have to take into effect. We re-standardize [cognitive tests] every decade or so to stay up to date.”
In August 2024, Pearson introduced the WAIS-5. The WAIS has been called “one of the most important measures developed to assess cognitive abilities” and the fifth edition of the popular clinical instrument includes several important updates.
Updated measure, historic reliability
WAIS-5 includes broader constructs for verbal comprehension, visual spatial skills, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed; it also features expanded index scores for increased clarity during interpretation. The updated version of the assessment is the most advanced psychometric measure of cognitive abilities in adults.
“[WAIS-5] gives us more nuanced information…than what we get from only looking at an IQ score,” Moran says.
Historically, WAIS has been used to test cognitive abilities across a range of conditions and is often used in clinical, educational, correctional, pharmaceutical research and in government settings.
In school settings, the WAIS–5 can be used to evaluate cognitive abilities or specific learning disabilities that can impact learning. WAIS-5 is also well suited to identify gifted students in school above age 16 and has start points for those suspected of intellectual giftedness.
The WAIS-5 is also used in correctional facilities to test for learning disabilities that could affect success in rehabilitation programs; and government departments might use the WAIS-5 and other assessments to make decisions about qualifications for disability benefits.
The assessment has broad appeal because it measures intelligence and provides insight into how people think. It’s also effective for ruling out competing explanations for the symptoms of mild to moderately lower cognitive abilities and autism in differential diagnosis, according to Dr. Moran. He believes that the combination of its historic reliability and expanded indices will make WAIS-5 the go-to tool for measuring cognitive processing.
“We’ve recognized that learning throughout the lifespan is very important,” says Moran. “Our brains are malleable and have neuroplasticity; they are growing over time with information, so we’ve built in a greater emphasis on IQ with things like…problem solving and reasoning that have a higher value [in the WAIS-5] than previous tests, which also makes it more culturally, racially, economically, and educationally fair.”
Making the Switch
Pearson data shows that most practitioners transition to the new edition of an assessment within the first year after its release; it’s a timeline that aligns with recommendations from the American Psychological Association.
WAIS-5 also has a shorter administration time of 45 minutes for the full-scale IQ (FSIQ) test and improved user experience with simplified administration and scoring directions and accessibility on Q-global as well as the new Q-interactive app. Dr. Moran believes these features have practitioners eager to make the switch to WAIS-5.
“The WAIS-5 provides more opportunities to get more specific information without having to pull in other neuropsychological tools…and positions clinicians to be more nimble when assessing a variety of cognitive factors than they have been able to before with the prior versions of the WAIS test,” he says. “We have the capacity to do remote testing with the Nonmotor Index (NMI) on WAIS-5…which is a very rich enhancement for service delivery models.”
Transitioning to WAIS-5 also provides insights that are reflective of the current census representation and offers a more nuanced understanding of cognitive abilities; it captures better data about how people think.
“One of the most valuable aspects of IQ tests is that they are predictive of later life functioning,” Dr. Moran adds. “It’s giving us some really reliable information that predicts how [cognitive abilities] are going to pan out over time.”
Emily Olsen 
Ricky Zipp 
Susanna Vogel