The HED Task Catalog is under development. IDs are not stable until formal release. Comments are welcome at github.com/hed-standard/hed-task/issues.

Raven’s Progressive Matrices Task

HED task ID: hedtsk_ravens_progressive_matrices

Family: Rule use, planning and reasoning tasks

Also known as: Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test, Raven’s Progressive Matrices, RPM, Raven’s, Progressive Matrices

Matrix completion items requiring induction of a rule from a 3x3 array of figures; items correct is a standard measure of non-verbal reasoning.

Description

Participants view a matrix pattern with a missing element and select the correct completion from a set of alternatives. The patterns involve systematic variations in features such as shape, size, color, orientation, and number, governed by rules that increase in complexity across test items. Solving each item requires extracting the governing rules and applying them to predict the missing element. Raven’s Progressive Matrices is the most widely used culture-reduced measure of fluid intelligence (Gf) and abstract relational reasoning, and is among the most extensively studied psychometric instruments in all of psychology. It has been central to debates about the neural basis of general intelligence, g-loading, and the structure of reasoning.

Inclusion test

An experiment is an instance of this task when its procedure matches, it manipulates at least one of the listed variables, and it records at least one of the listed measures.

Procedure

Participants view a 3×3 matrix of geometric patterns with one cell missing and select the pattern that completes the matrix from a set of alternatives.

Manipulation

Number of relational rules to integrate; rule types (distribution of values, quantitative progression, figure addition); number of response options.

Measurement

Number correct (raw score, often converted to IQ-scale); accuracy by item difficulty; response time.

Variations

Named versions that change what the participant experiences or does. The identifier of a variation is hedvar_<task>__<variation>.

Variation

Description

Justification

Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM)

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__standard_progressive_matrices_spm

60 items in 5 sets (A–E) of increasing difficulty; the most widely used version.

Canonical general ability measure

Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM)

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__advanced_progressive_matrices_apm

36 more difficult items for high-ability adults; used in cognitive neuroscience research.

Harder item set for higher ability; different item difficulty range

Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM)

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__colored_progressive_matrices_cpm

Easier version for children (aged 5–11), the elderly, and clinical populations.

Colored figures, simpler items for children/elderly; different stimulus format

Computerized Adaptive Version

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__computerized_adaptive_version

Item difficulty adjusted in real time based on performance.

Per §5.6: adaptive algorithm changes which items presented; procedural change beyond interface

Matrix Reasoning (WAIS subtest)

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__matrix_reasoning_wais_subtest

Similar principle but part of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale; brief screener format.

Standardized 26-item version with WAIS norms; named published instrument

Sandia Matrices

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__sandia_matrices

Algorithmically generated Raven’s-like items with controlled rule complexity for experimental manipulation.

Open-source item set with verified psychometrics; distinct published test

Time-Limited vs. Untimed Administration

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__time_limited_vs_untimed_administration

Power test (untimed) vs. speeded versions; affects what the test measures.

Time pressure changes response strategy and performance profile

Shortened Versions (15-Item)

hedvar_ravens_progressive_matrices__shortened_versions_15_item

Brief 15-item forms developed for quick screening, particularly for children and adolescents; trade test reliability for reduced administration time.

Abbreviated protocols validated for efficiency; recognized published short form

Cognitive processes

This task is designed to engage the following processes:

Key references

  • Carpenter, P. A., Just, M. A., & Shell, P. (1990). What one intelligence test measures: A theoretical account of the processing in the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Psychological Review, 97(3), 404–431. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Gray, J. R., Chabris, C. F., & Braver, T. S. (2003). Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence. Nature Neuroscience, 6(3), 316–322. (DOI, PubMed)

Further references

  • Prabhakaran, V., Smith, J. A. L., Desmond, J. E., Glover, G. H., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (1997). Neural substrates of fluid reasoning: An fMRI study of neocortical activation during performance of the Raven’s Progressive Matrices test. Cognitive Psychology, 33(1), 43–63. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Kievit, R. A., Davis, S. W., Griffiths, J., Correia, M. M., Cam-CAN, & Henson, R. N. (2016). A watershed model of individual differences in fluid intelligence. Neuropsychologia, 91, 186–198. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Matzen, L. E., Benz, Z. O., Dixon, K. R., Posey, J., Kroger, J. K., & Speed, A. E. (2010). Recreating Raven’s: Software for systematically generating large numbers of Raven-like matrix problems with normed properties. Behavior Research Methods, 42(2), 525–541. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Hayes, T. R., Petrov, A. A., & Sederberg, P. B. (2015). Do we really become smarter when our fluid-intelligence test scores improve? Intelligence, 48, 1–14. (DOI, PubMed)