Using more complex items than those commonly employed within the information-processing approach, but still easier than those used in intelligence tests, this study analyzed how the association between processing speed and accuracy level changes as the difficulty of the items increases. The study involved measuring cognitive ability using Raven's…

Match-to-sample is a timed task in which a subject is presented with a visual stimulus (the probe) and must select a match to that stimulus (the target) from among an array of distractors. These tasks are frequently employed as tests of basic cognitive abilities and demonstrate consistent correlations with measures of intelligence. In the current…

This study examined whether children's growth on measures of fluid (Raven Colored Progressive Matrices) and crystallized (reading and math achievement) intelligence was attributable to domain-specific or domain-general functions of working memory (WM). A sample of 290 elementary school children was tested on measures of intelligence across three…

This study investigates the relationships between structural knowledge, control performance and fluid intelligence in a complex problem solving (CPS) task. 75 participants received either complete, partial or no information regarding the underlying structure of a complex problem solving task, and controlled the task to reach specific goals.…

Three hundred and four participants in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study took a validated IQ-type test at age 11 years and a battery of cognitive tests at age 70 years. Three tests of health literacy were completed at age 72 years; the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults…

The transient enhancement of performance on spatial tasks in standardized tests after exposure to the first movement "allegro con spirito" of the Mozart sonata for two pianos in D major (KV 448) is referred to as the Mozart effect since its first observation by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993). These findings turned out to be amazingly hard to…

Individual differences in procedural and declarative learning of a sequence-learning task by 455 adolescents were measured and compared to one another and to scores on a performance battery. A framework is proposed to explain the results based on a combination of approaches to explain dissociations found in memory. (SLD)

First, third, fifth and eleventh graders were videotaped as they completed the Block Design Subtest of the WISC-R. Neither the order of placement of blocks within each design nor the degree to which children persisted in placing a given block correctly before moving to the next one evidenced developmental differences. (Author/RD)

Strategy use, task performance, and perceptions of difficulty were studied for 34 mildly retarded children and 34 who were not retarded. Results showed that retarded children rated tasks more difficult than nonretarded students and responded less well to brief task training. Metacognitive variables predicted recall performance independently of…

Relationship between stimulus type (numeric or verbal) and type of precocity (mathematical and verbal) was studied in 104 gifted young adolescents through tasks measuring working memory. The relationship between type of stimulus and type of precocity suggests underlying differences between verbally and mathematically precocious youth in memory…

Results from a study in which 25 deaf children and 25 hearing children completed a vocabulary test and a compound stimulus visual information task support the hypothesis that performance on cognitive tasks is dependent on compatibility of task demands with a coding orientation. (SLD)

The sustained attention of 16 mildly retarded and 16 nonretarded adults was assessed during 2 60-minute vigilance tests differing in memory demand. Performance of retarded subjects declined more rapidly in later stages than did that of the nonretarded subjects. Implications for the study of memory load are discussed. (SLD)

The influence of race on IQ was studied with 33 European American and 33 African American 3-year olds matched for several characteristics. Findings of a difference favoring European Americans support the Spearman hypothesis that group performance differences on subtests are related to the "g" loadings of the test. (SLD)

Eight-seven adult outpatients in Edinburgh (Scotland) were tested with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (WAIS-R) and a test of visual inspection time (IT). Factor analysis confirms that IT correlates more strongly with performance than with verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. Implications for the study of IT and mental tests…

Latent dimensions underlying individual differences in performance of information-processing tasks and dual task combinations, and the existence of a time-sharing (TS) ability were studied in 81 male college students. Supportive evidence for a general TS ability was not found. An identified TS factor specific to task combinations is discussed.…