Do you see any validity issues with the test being used as a predictor of on-the-field performance for professional football players?

N.F.L. Tries New Method for Testing Mental Agility By JUDY BATTISTA INDIANAPOLIS -- For decades, hundreds of college players have gathered each year at the N.F.L.'s scouting combine, where their strength is tested, their speed is timed and, in a test to measure their intelligence, they are asked questions like "When a rope is selling 20 cents per 2 feet, how many feet can you buy for 30 dollars?" That query is part of the Wonderlie Personnel Test, a 12-minute, 50-item quiz that has been used by N.F.L. teams since the 1970s. It is, however, infamously unreliable in predicting football success - forgettable players have scored high, stars low - and there have been quiet concerns that it has a racial bias. So the players at this week's combine are facing a new segment in their extended job interviews: an hourlong psychological assessment designed to determine and quantify the nebulous qualities that coaches have long believed make the most successful players - motivation, competitiveness, passion and mental toughness - and to divine how each player learns best. The new test, like the Wonderlic, is mandatory for the more than 300 players who attend, and it will be given for the first time Friday. While many coaches and general managers consider the Wonderlic particularly useful in evaluating quarterbacks and offensive linemen, positions that are believed to demand the greatest intellect because of the need to decipher complex defenses, the hope is that the new test, called the Player Assessment Tool, will give teams clearer insight into a broader range of players. "I knew players who didn't score well on the Wonderlic but had great instincts," said Emie Accorsi, a former Giants general manager, who was consulted during the creation of the new test. "I had a player once, this guy played in a good league in college, but the psychological testing indicated he didn't handle pressure well. You know what? He didn't, as it turned out. The Wonderlic can't tell you that." The new test was devised by Harold Goldstein, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at Baruch College in New York. He worked with Cyrus Mehri, a lawyer in Washington who leads the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors the N.F.L.'s minority hiring practices. Personality tests have been a staple in other industries, and some N.F.L. teams have used them during their scouting efforts, which often take months. But last fall Goldstein and Mehri began the process of producing the first such test for the entire league. They asked a group of general managers what qualities they wanted in a player. They came up with 16 aspects thought to be predictors of N.F.L. success, including learning agility and conscientiousness. The test closely resembles those given to firefighters, Mehri said, because they, like football players, must be able to quickly assess a situation and decide how to proceed under stress. The goal was to eliminate the impact of prior knowledge - subjects taught in school, like math, in which racial and socioeconomic factors may have an influence. To evaluate their cognitive abilities, it might tell them to look at four diagrams and figure out how they relate. Then, to measure how quickly they can adjust their thinking, the items they are comparing might change, forcing the players to determine their relationships anew. "How do you have Eli Manning scrambling for his life and throw that ball in the Super Bowl?" Mehri said, referring to Manning's throw to David Tyree in the 2008 title game. Aptitude tests suggest to me you're testing how smart you are. It's so much more than that." He added: "How do you capture that kind of playmaking in a test? You can't figure that out the way the combine is now. How you handle pressure, your mental toughness. At least this can be a window into it." It is not easy to design a test that accurately predicts if a cornerback will be able to cover a wide receiver, or if a quarterback can learn how to find the hole in a defense with a pass rusher in his face. "These tests will never capture or perfectly predict performance; they are always limited," said Karen Blackmon, a clinical psychologist and research scientist at New York University. "How do you test for mental toughness? I don't really know." The plan is to give the test results to teams in March, less than two months before the draft in late April. So the information they get about players will not influence their interviews, individual workouts and film study. Coaches have indicated they are most intrigued by the information about learning styles. After the draft, teams will be asked for feedback about how useful the test was in the scheme of the vast information collected about players before the draft. The plan is to hone it for coming years. Still, the test's ability to predict whether a player is the next Peyton Manning or the next Ryan Leaf will probably not be known for at least a few years, after this class of players has had time to develop in a sport in which determination might have at least as much to do with success as a 40-yard dash. "'That's the unlocked mystery," Accorsi said, adding. "But in our game, more than any other because of the physical nature, there's a key you try to unlock