Final answer:
The WISC-V uses seven subtests—Block Design, Similarities, Digit Span, Matrix Reasoning, Vocabulary, Figure Weights, and Coding—to calculate the Full Scale IQ, reflecting multiple cognitive abilities, as per the test's indices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The WISC-V is an intelligence test that yields a Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) score based on several subtests. These subtests correspond to specific cognitive domains reflected in the five indices of the test: Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. The seven subtests used from the WISC-V to calculate the FSIQ are Block Design, Similarities, Digit Span, Matrix Reasoning, Vocabulary, Figure Weights, and Coding. Through these subtests, the assessment aims to provide a comprehensive measure of a child's mental abilities, recognizing that intelligence is a composite of various cognitive skills.
David Wechsler, who developed the WISC-V, emphasized that intelligence entails the ability to think logically and deal effectively with the environment, a belief that is mirrored in the diversity of the test's subtests. The WISC-V, which is the latest version in the lineage of tests following the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, continues to be a widely used tool across schools and communities to assess cognitive abilities.
The valid use of IQ tests like the WISC-V involves a nuanced understanding of what intelligence is and how it can be measured. While some may question the validity of such tests, the WISC-V strives to evaluate more than just verbal competencies, tapping into a range of cognitive processes integral to praxis and gnosis, which are associated with motor responses, language function, and abstract reasoning, and localized to specific cortical areas.