Baddeley's Grammatical Reasoning Test
Background
The Baddeley 3-Minute Grammatical Reasoning Test, developed by Alan Baddeley in 1968, is a quick neuropsychological screening tool of deductive reasoning abilities. It was originally developed as a portable screener to assess cognitive impairments caused by environmental stressors under time constraints.
Participants are presented with a up to 64 simple statements describing the order of two letters A and B (e.g. "A follows B'"), followed by a letter pair itself (e.g., "AB" or "BA"). The statements serve as logical premises and the test requires participants to apply rules of formal logic — specifically syllogistic and propositional logic — to determine if the proposed conclusion, the letter pair, follows from a given premise.
The 64 possible items vary across six binary conditions to increase difficulty:
- Positive vs. Negative phrasing
- Active vs. Passive voice
- True vs. False statements
- "Precedes" vs. "Follows"
- Letter mentioned first (A or B)
- Displayed pair order (AB or BA)
Task Procedure
After working on four practice trials that provide feedback, participants get 3 minutes to work on a maximum of 64 statements. The statements are selected randomly without repetitions. Each statement is presented on a single page and participants have to click (or touch) the letters T(true) or F(alse) provided on the page once they've decided if the letter pair logically follows from the statement. The next statement appears immediately after submitting a response.
What it Measures
The Baddeley 3-Minute Grammatical Reasoning Test assesses deductive reasoning.
Psychological domains
- Deductive Reasoning: Ability to draw logic conclusions from provided information
- Working Memory: Ability to keep and manipulate information in short term memory storage
- Linguistic Processing: Ability to understand language
- Processing Speed: Ability to quickly and efficiently process information
Main Performance Metrics
- Total Number of Correct Responses
Psychiatric Conditions
Performance on the Baddeley 3-Minute Grammatical Reasoning Test is influenced by inherent cognitive abilities as well as transient factors such as caused by sleep deprivation, drug use, oxygen deprivation and others.
The Baddeley Grammatical Reasoning Test (Baddeley, 1968).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Baddeley's Grammatical Reasoning Test.
Baddeley, A. D. & Flemming, N.C. (1967). The efficiency of divers breathing oxy-helium. Ergonomics, 10, 311-319.
Baddeley, A. D. (1968). A 3 min reasoning test based on grammatical transformation. Psychonomic Science, 10, 341-342.
Kyllonen, P. C. & Christal, R. E. (1990). Reasoning Ability is (Little More Than) Working-Memory Capacity? Intelligence, 14, 389-433.
Kuypers, K., & Ramaekers, J. (2005). Transient memory impairment after acute dose of 75mg 3.4-Methylene-dioxymethamphetamine. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 19, 633-639.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2008). Personality, intelligence and approaches to learning as predictors of academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1596-1603.
Furnham, A, & McClelland, A. (2009). Word frequency effects and intelligence testing. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 544-546.
Sandrock, S., Schutte, M., Griefahn, B. (2010). Mental strain and annoyance during cognitive performance in different traffic noise conditions. Ergonomics, 53, 962-971.