The failure to correctly report two targets ("T[subscript 1]", "T[subscript 2]") that follow each other in close temporal proximity has been called the "attentional blink" (AB). The AB has, so far, mainly been studied using experimental approaches. The present studies investigated individual differences in AB performance, revealing (among further…

Spearman's law of diminishing returns (SLODR) posits that at higher levels of general cognitive ability the general factor ("g") performs less well in explaining individual differences in cognitive test performance. Research has generally supported SLODR, but previous research has required the a priori division of respondents into…

A latent variable analysis was conducted to examine the nature of individual differences in lapses of attention and their relation to executive and fluid abilities. Participants performed a sustained attention task along with multiple measures of executive control and fluid abilities. Lapses of attention were indexed based on the slowest reaction…

Multitasking performance is relevant in everyday life and job analyses highlight the influence of multitasking over several diverse occupations. Intelligence is the best single predictor of overall job performance and it is also related to individual differences in multitasking. However, it has been shown that working memory capacity (WMC) is…

Using a simple neural model comprising between two and four neurons, it is concluded that speed of neuron conduction is not the probable basis of the intelligence quotient (IQ)-reaction time (RT) correlation. This result illustrates that neural modeling can be applied to biological theories of individual differences in intelligence. (SLD)

Dewey's notion of "reflective thinking" is discussed. A model of phases of reflective thinking is described: problem recognition, enumeration of possibilities, reasoning, revision, and evaluation. Each phase has at least one parameter governing its operation and one rule for setting the optimum parameter value. Sources of individual…

It is argued that intelligent behavior cannot be understood without reference to inhibitory processes. A review of research findings suggests that resistance to interference and the capacity for inhibition are important sources of individual differences, associated with the operation of the frontal lobes of the brain. (SLD)

Data from the national standardization of the French version of the WISC-III were analyzed to determine when during childhood the IQ-related process of differentiation appears and how the strength of the relationships among subtests evolves with age in low- and high-IQ groups. Indeed, some recent studies suggest that age might moderate the effect…

A large number of national and geographic population samples were used to test the hypothesis that the variation in mean values of skin color in the diverse populations are consistently correlated with the mean measured or estimated IQs of the various groups, as are some other physical variables, known as an ecological correlation. Straightforward…

A new analysis of data from 15 cognitive tasks completed by 93 subjects with scores on the Cattell Culture Fair test show that differences in Cattell score systematically affected performance on some tasks more than on others. Implications for theories of local and global differences in mental ability are discussed. (SLD)

Sternberg and Gastel have provided an example of a major principle of intelligence research--the relationship between a task's working memory demands and its sensitivity to individual differences in fluid intelligence and "g." There is no need to invoke additional constructs such as "novelty." (SLD)

Because they used an inappropriate statistical procedure, J. H. Kranzler and A. R. Jensen (1991) have not demonstrated that a factor of general intelligence ("g") depends on several independent factors. A factorial reanalysis of their data suggests that speed and efficiency of information processing are important in "g." (SLD)

The hypothetical idea of a perfectly pure psychometric "g" is empirically unattainable. Because the unity of "g" cannot be proved or disproved by factor analysis, the unitary "g" hypothesis represents a parsimonious assumption. J. B. Carroll's (1991) analysis demonstrates the relationship between psychometric and…

Substitution tests have a long history in psychology because of their simplicity of administration and their sensitivity to individual differences related to complex cognitive performance. Despite their widespread use there is no agreement on what the substitution test measures. The present study approached this question by applying a method of…

This editorial proposes that the dependent variables that predict childhood intelligence quotient (IQ) from habituation and recognition memory assessments made during infancy may primarily reflect individual differences in rate of information processing. Inhibition may be a stable thread in mental development. (Author/SLD)