SynthesisPsychological bulletin2014
The Flynn effect: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparison of life expectancy determinants among gulf cooperation council members.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Association of Very Preterm Birth or Very Low Birth Weight With Intelligence in Adulthood: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis.JAMA pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of Cognitive Performance in Neurodevelopmental Disorders during Adulthood: Comparisons between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Towards a Better Understanding of Cognitive Deficits in Absence Epilepsy: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2019Pooled it
- Debts and experienced financial scarcity: associations with nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality in adolescents at risk for psychopathology.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Influence of MCAT Scores on Medical Student Selection and Performance Using a Machine Learning Approach: Retrospective Cohort Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Adolescent intelligence and imaging-detected atherosclerosis in middle age: a population study of Swedish men.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- National Age- and Education-Specific Normative Data for K-MoCA Total Score, Domain Index Scores, and K-MoCA-22.Dementia and neurocognitive disorders · 2026Article
- To advance sleep science, let's study change.Sleep · 2026Article
- Discerning cognitive domains through online assessment in aging participants in Norwegian Cohort 50.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Development and comparison of alternate forms of the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scales for Semantic Interference and Learning-Digital Version (LASSI-D) in older participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Article
- Adolescent Intelligence and Imaging-Based Atherosclerosis in middle age: A Population Study of Swedish Men.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Leisure Screen Time and the Risk of Six Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Trajectories of episodic memory in midlife: Historical change from a cross-country perspective.Psychology and aging · 2025Article
- Generational IQ test score changes and the positive manifold of intelligence: evidence from Austrian Air Force pilots and air traffic controllers (1992-2016).Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Wait, Where's the Flynn Effect on the WAIS-5?Journal of Intelligence · 2024Article
- The Flynn effect and cognitive decline among americans aged 65 years and older.Psychology and aging · 2024Article
- Regression-based normative data for the D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test in Norwegian adults ages 20-85.The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2024Article
- Cognitive performance trends among European older adults: exploring variations across cohorts, gender, and educational levels (2007-2017).BMC public health · 2024Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Flynn effect refers to the observed rise in IQ scores over time, which results in norms obsolescence. Although the Flynn effect is widely accepted, most efforts to estimate it have relied upon "scorecard" approaches that make estimates of its magnitude and error of measurement controversial and prevent determination of factors that moderate the Flynn effect across different IQ tests. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the Flynn effect with a higher degree of precision, to determine the error of measurement, and to assess the impact of several moderator variables on the mean effect size. Across 285 studies (N = 14,031) since 1951 with administrations of 2 intelligence tests with different normative bases, the meta-analytic mean was 2.31, 95% CI [1.99, 2.64], standard score points per decade. The mean effect size for 53 comparisons (N = 3,951, excluding 3 atypical studies that inflate the estimates) involving modern (since 1972) Stanford-Binet and Wechsler IQ tests (2.93, 95% CI [2.3, 3.5], IQ points per decade) was comparable to previous estimates of about 3 points per decade but was not consistent with the hypothesis that the Flynn effect is diminishing. For modern tests, study sample (larger increases for validation research samples vs. test standardization samples) and order of administration explained unique variance in the Flynn effect, but age and ability level were not significant moderators. These results supported previous estimates of the Flynn effect and its robustness across different age groups, measures, samples, and levels of performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.