Criticisms Regarding the use of the E.P.V.T. in Subnormality Research

Summary The paper argues against the common practice of estimating mental age on the basis of a score on a test of a specific ability, usually receptive vocabulary. It shows how a relatively high vocabulary age may be achieved on E.P.V.T. by subnormal children and stresses the danger of using this as a mental age estimate especially in subnormality research where a mental age matching paradigm is employed using normal and subnormal children.