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One methodological flaw exists in the approach to measurement of spatial ability by Ivanov and Geake (2003). The selection of the PFT was unfortunate since this instrument was first developed in 1978, some thirty years prior to the research being undertaken. Implementing older cognitive tests for guidance on the cognitive abilities of present day school children is affected by the Flynn effect (Flynn (1987)). This refers to the process where the modern scores tend to be different from tests standardised at an earlier date on a different generation of the population.For example, over a period of 30 years there has been an increase in IQ of 21 points. Unfortunately, the Flynn effect would seem to affect non-verbal intelligence tests rather than verbal intelligence tests (Benton (2001)). One explanation is biological development of the population, that has been accompanied by increased life expectancy and physical height, rather than social development as would be reflected in verbal measures of intelligence. However, the development of technological and problem-based toys and the increased level of educational testing experienced by the population may also explain some of the improvements in intelligence test performance. The Flynn effect is not always uniform across sub-tests and the Similarities test and Information test in the WISC intelligence test battery have moved in opposite directions over time (Flynn (1999)). The only meaningful approach to excluding Flynn effects in the assessment of spatial cognitive abilities of present day school children would be to compare PFT test scores with other modern-day measures of special ability.
Although Ivanov and Geake (2003) report the mean scores, standard deviations and statistically significant findings for the school children, the actual interpretation of PFT test scores are somewhat limited. Few research studies have reported psychometric data that supports the use of the PFT in repeated experimental conditions such as employed in the Mozart effect study, amongst child populations. It would have been wise to employ a more recent, and highly validated measure of spatial cognitive ability such as the WISC Children's Intelligence test. A spatial ability score can be derived from the WISC subtests on the Picture Completion, Block Design, and Object Assembly subtests. In employing more than one test in the pre-post design it would have provided an opportunity to explore children's individual differences in separate aspects of spatial reasoning ability.