Systematic generational test score increases, commonly known as the Flynn effect, have been extensively documented in younger populations. However, much less is known about whether and how this phenomenon manifests in later adulthood. This study provides the first systematic examination of the Flynn effect and changes in the positive manifold of intelligence among older adults (aged 50+) across 22 countries from 2005 to 2022, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Results revealed predominantly positive Flynn effects across five cognitive domains, with verbal fluency exhibiting the strongest gains ( d = 0.48), followed by working memory ( d = 0.38) and free recall ( d = 0.27) whilst numeracy showed weaker effects ( d range 0.07-0.08). When accounting for age and education, the observed effects were substantially attenuated, and were differentiated across domains and countries in terms of strength and direction. Interestingly, the positive manifold appeared to somewhat increase in strength, but showed considerable country-specific differences. In all, our findings demonstrate cross-temporal changes in executive functioning that are differentiated according to specific domains, but are unrelated to shifts in the positive manifold of intelligence.
Andrzejewski et al. (Mon,) studied this question.